EscaFantasy
by Lani-Anela
Summary: A member of an elite military team, Van is forced into a conflict beyond imagination. To survive he must contend with a desperate rival, a powerful sorceress and his own mysterious dreams. An epic story of love, hate, war and peace. V/H R+R! ESCA/FF8
1. Rivals

Esca Fantasy

Hello to everyone that has decided to see how good or bad this story is. This is my first attempt at a fan fic, I've been reading peoples fantastic work on ff.net for about a year and have always wanted to write my own, but I was always too lazy. Oh well, better late than never! I decided to do a cross over thing of Escaflowne and Final Fantasy 8, as the story line in FF8 is really good, and no one has done this before. If anyone finds it a bit slow in the first few chapters I apologise, but stick with it as anyone who has played the game will tell you, it gets much better, I promise. The characters in this fic will probably be a little bit OOC but I'll try my best to keep them as close to how they are in the series. However the situations that they are put into often calls for them to have a bit of a personality change in order for the story to work. Also for those of you who have played the game, I hope you agree with the way I have paired the characters of esca and ff. But I'll explain my reasons for the pairings as the story progresses. I have given this story a PG-13 rating as there are one or two mild swear words, and I'm not to sure if I made the fighting a bit too graphic?! So anyway, with out further ado, here it is

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or Final Fantasy 8 and am making no money from this. 

Chapter 1

Rivals

__

I'll be here…

Why…?

I'll be waiting…here…

For what?

I'll be waiting…for you…so…

If you come here…

You'll find me.

I promise.

On a day of clear blue sky and warm sunshine there was a field, a beautiful field full of lush green grass, and wild flowers of every colour. Small birds sung and flew playfully among the trees bordering it and the flowers and tree leaves swayed lazily in the gentle breeze.

In the centre of this beauty and serenity stood a girl, her honey-coloured hair danced in the breeze that caused hundreds of pink petals to float delicately around her. One adventurous petal made its way to her outstretched hand and she closed her fingers around it, when she opened them again the petal had turned into a pure white feather. The feather left her palm as a strong wind swept it up high into the sky, she stared after it with emerald green eyes as it disappeared from sight.

***

Lightening flashed over head as two young fighters stood amidst a harsh and rocky terrain, with only the angry, early morning thunderstorm as an audience to their battle of strength and skill. The first young fighter casually leaned against his gunblade, smirking to himself while the other stood unarmed, watching the dark clouded sky with intense brown eyes. 

Van Fanel and Allen Schezar, rivals from birth were engaged in an intense training battle. Both had the most exceptional fighting skills out of all the students at Balamb Garden, and both specialised in the use of a gunblade; a strange sword like weapon, with a large blade and a gun shaped handle. The only time they could ever find a challenging battle was when they fought each other. And right now Allen had the upper hand; he had successfully knocked Van's gunblade out of his hand and sent it flying into the stormy sky above.

"I'll give you another chance Fanel", he had said tauntingly with a smirk adorning his handsome features. Van could feel his blood boiling, and his eyes sharpen with infuriation. Allen knew that saying that would get beneath Van's skin. Van hated to lose to Allen, but if this had been a real battle scenario, then Van's mistake would have resulted in his death. Allen was in control of the battle now and he knew it. He could easily finish Van off at anytime. But here he was, giving Van another chance to try and beat him, he was so sure of himself that he was allowing Van to continue fighting. 

"_Damn him!" _Van thought angrily, as a large bolt of lightening flashed overhead and a loud rumble echoed all around them, reflecting Van's mood. 

"_As soon as I get my gunblade I'll wipe that smirk off his face, I'm stronger than he thinks". _Then as if on cue, his gunblade came buzzing down from the dark sky spinning wildly and slicing through the air until it pierced the stony ground. Van's gloved hand quickly grasped the gun like handle and pulled it out of the ground. He turned to face his rival with his weapon held out before him. They shot each other dangerous glares as their eyes met.

Allen Schezar and Van Fanel were both students at Balamb Garden Military Academy who had spent most their lives there training to become SeeD cadets. Allen, the oldest at 18 years old stood at 6'2", with long blond hair that was tied back, and harsh, steely blue eyes. He was always seen wearing a long grey trench coat, simple black trousers and boots and leather gloves. Although Allen was a naturally gifted student, his inability to follow rules and orders has earned him the reputation of 'problematic' among the instructors at Garden, where as the students saw him as being intimidating, but also very handsome too and is known to have strong charms over women. Allen recognised and praised Van's fighting abilities and regarded him as his ultimate rival. 

Van, although younger than Allen by a year and only 5'8" tall had skills in battle of the same level and quality as Allen. Van had deep brown eyes and thick, unruly black hair with tanned skin, giving him an extremely dark and sexy look. Being best described as a 'lone wolf', Van was very aloof, stubborn and anti-social, and disliked having others involved in his affairs. His usual out fit was made up of black trousers with three buckles around his right thigh and two large leather belts that held his gunblade. As well as that he wore a simple white T-shirt with a short black jacket over the top with a white fur collar and black leather gloves.

Both fighters gazed at each other for a few moments before charging fiercely. Allen at the last minute spun around before striking, Van blocked the unexpected attack just in time and retaliated with a swift blow that Allen dodged easily. Sparks flew as the two blades scraped against each other harshly. They lunged at each other again, both dodging the others attack. They spun around and their swords met, the clash of metal ringing out through the battlefield, they pushed away and Van brought his blade up and around to strike, but Allen was already there, ready to block the attack.

"You're making this far too easy for me", Allen taunted. Angered by Allen's remark Van swung his sword around, advancing swiftly towards the blond haired soldier. He struck again and again, hitting every move perfectly and dodging all of Allen's assaults. 

"_I've got him now_," thought Van. Allen frowned at Van's sudden come back and finally managed to hit back. He swung his blade upwards, striking Van's blade so hard he almost lost his grip on it again. Van stumbled back, but quickly recovered and attacked again, each hit being more powerful and accurate than the last. Then Allen found another opening and took a wide swipe at Van's head. Van managed to duck just in time and stepped back. 

"_What an idiot, he's gonna end up killing me with attacks like that!"_ Van thought to himself. 

Allen smirked as he rested his gunblade on his shoulder and raised his other hand, beckoning Van to take his best shot. He was taunting him again.

Van rushed forward, full of fury with his blade raised, ready to strike. As Van was running towards him Allen raised his hand and a ball of fiery light collected in his palm. 

"_That bastard, he's going to use a fire blast against me!" _But Van realised Allen's plan too late as the fiery light hit him square in the chest and flung him back into the hard, dusty ground. Dazed and disorientated from the hit, Van groggily sat up, his eyesight was hazy and his head was spinning, those were some of the effects that a special attack like a fire blast could have. He struggled to pick himself up from the ground and gain his bearings before Allen could win, but despite his efforts his damaged senses meant he could no longer fight. He looked up to see the shadowy form of Allen standing in front of him and could clearly imagine the look of triumph that Allen would have plastered on his face.

"_Damn him!….that cheater is going to win" _thought Van angrily.

Van managed to push himself up onto one knee and his eyes focused so he could now see Allen clearly. He expected him to end the training session there as Van was in no position to attack. But his eyes suddenly widened as he saw, and felt, the sharp blade of Allen's sword strike him across the face, slicing a gash from the upper left side of Van's nose to the lower right. The cut ran deep and red blood splattered onto the ground as Van's head whipped to the side, while more blood continued to run down his nose. 

He turned his head back to face the ice-eyed soldier, with fire burning in his eyes. He raised his gunblade, and yelled half with fury and half with pain as he sliced the air fast towards Allen, slashing from the lower left of Allen's nose to the upper right. Surprised by the swift and ferocious attack, Allen dropped his weapon as he fell back. Blood trickled down his face from the attack, although the injury that he received was just a scratch compared to the matching wound that he had given his opponent. Van was now the last man standing. He stood for a few moments, taking in short, sharp breaths, and wincing at the pain on his forehead. Feeling the little strength he had left leave him, he dropped his gunblade and fell to his knees. 

"I…win…", he proclaimed, before collapsing onto the ground, unconscious, with blood still pouring from his brow. 

From the still stormy sky above, a pure white feather, gently drifted down to the battle field and landed softly on the blood stained ground next to the passed out form of Van.

Ok, so what did you think? Good/Bad, Fantastic/Terrible. I would really love to hear your thoughts and opinions, they would help me so much, especially as I'm a newbie, so your reviews would be very very much appreciated. For those of you who did enjoy this (there must be someone!) I will update it as soon as possible. I've already got the next chapter half written, I just need to brush it up a bit. In the mean time go take a look at my favourite stories page, there are some fantastic stories there by some really talented authors, and I highly recommend checking out 'A Countries Hope' by Jounichou, it's an amazing fic and I don't think she got enough credit for it, so please, go read it and give her the support that she deserves.

Oh and anyone who has played the game, do you know what that blue thing that rinoa wears is called? If not what would you call it? Thanks for reading!

Natalie xXx


	2. Preparations

Esca Fantasy

Hi, here I have the second chapter of my story. And thank you so much to the people who reviewed my story, I'm glad you all like it, your reviews meant so much to me.

Young Hitomi: You were my first ever reviewer! Thank you so much!

Freelancer47: *blushes* you're way too kind, your review really made me smile J Thank you!

Love Witch: You have a husband that looks like Squall! That is so unfair, how on Earth did you find a guy that looks like him?! You lucky, lucky thing. I want a boyfriend that looks like Van! But then who here doesn't?! Thank you.

Iesu: thanx for the review, update your story soon!

Chapter Two

Preparations

Slowly, the raven-haired boy opened his eyes, as he gradually gained consciousness. When his eyes eventually adjusted to the bright lights, he looked around the room he was in and recognised it as the infirmary. He sat up from the bed and grimaced slightly as a pain shot through his head. Lifting a black gloved hand he felt the bandaged wound as he remembered the mornings previous events.

__

"Allen and I were fighting, he used a fire blast on me….. we're not supposed to use those kinds of attacks when training," he thought to himself, remembering the fiery blast that Allen had shot at him. 

"_He almost killed me…….but I got him back". _His thoughts though were broken as he noticed a plump woman standing at the end of the bed. She had greying hair that was tied back in a bun and was wearing a long white coat; she was busy writing on a blue clipboard till she looked up at him.

"How are you feeling?" said Dr Kadowaki, smiling warmly.

"Ok I guess", he said groggily, holding his head as the words echoed in his mind, "My forehead hurts".

"No kidding", she said jokingly, she leaned forward to look at him "looks like your eyes are focusing, you should be fine," she said as she straightened up and looked back at the clipboard in her hand.

"Can you say your name for me?" she asked.

"Van, Van Fanel", he replied.

"Ok that's good", she said nodding her head in approval that he was Ok, "why don't you take it easy in training?" she said pointing at him, "next time you might not be so lucky".

"Tell that to Allen", Van retorted, still holding his head, Dr Kadowaki put her hand to her chin in thought.

"That Allen…….won't listen to anyone. Why don't you ignore him?" His head snapped up and he met her kind, warm gaze with cold eyes.

"I can't just run away", he said sharply.

"You wanna be cool, huh?" she said raising her arms in submission, "Well just don't get hurt in the process. Let's see", she said looking back at the clipboard "You're instructor is…….Merle! I'll call her now. Just wait a minute", she said as she walked off. Van lay back on the medical bed and rested an arm lightly across his head in an attempt to shield out the bright infirmary lights. From the next room he could hear Dr Kadowaki's voice as she spoke on the phone.

"Merle? Your student is ready, you can come and get him now", she said informatively 

"Yes, yes……his injury's not serious, it'll probably leave a scar….." she continued, Van blocked out the rest as he rolled onto his side, feeling the cool breeze coming through the window behind him play across his tanned face, he closed his eyes, enjoying the cooling effect it was having on his head.

The infirmary was a quiet place, not many students ever needed to go there but if they did they could be assured that they would be well cared for by the resident doctor, Dr Kadowaki. She was a kind woman but firm as well when it came to matters of health. The welfare of the students was her number one priority at all times. The infirmary itself was very modern with everything kept clean and orderly, when you first entered you would see Dr Kadowaki's desk with papers in orderly piles and a large filing cabinet in the corner, adjoining this room were multiple patient rooms, all similar to the one Van was in. Each had a large window behind the bed with a view of the Quad's beautiful trees and fountains, and each had soft green drapes that blew gently in the breeze. There was also a small cupboard next to the beds, which contained a few medical supplies.

After a few minutes of lying there he opened his eyes, only to see a girl slightly older than himself, watching him from the other side of the glass wall. She had dark brown hair that was twisted up and was held in place with invisible pins, and light brown eyes. She wore a simple white skirt and blue top with a grass green sash wrapped around her arms. She smiled at him as she spoke softly.

"Van…..so we meet again". Van blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, but when he looked back, he saw that she had disappeared, gone as quickly as she had come. He had no time to think about the strange encounter though as the silence of the infirmary was broken by the sound of sliding doors and footsteps. 

Merle made her way through the infirmary looking for Van's room, at 18 she stood at 5'6" with piercing blue eyes, curly pink hair and dark tanned skin, she had an exotic kind of beauty. She was a top-notch member of SeeD since the age of 15 who served as Van's and other students' instructor. Contrary to her cool exterior, she sometimes has difficulty coping with frustration and can become depressed over trivial matters. As she reached Van's room she stopped at the foot of his bed. She rolled her eyes when she saw him lying on the medical bed. 

"Those two are so predictable", she thought to herself, _"well at least he's not badly hurt". _She let out a silent sigh of relief. Tucking a stray bit of pink curly hair behind her ear she moved to stand next to the bed.

"I knew it'd be either you or Allen!" she said nonchalantly. Van sat back up as she started to walk out the room, when she reached the door she turned back around. "Come on let's go", she said when he didn't follow, "Today's the field exam".

***

As they made their way through the open-air corridor that leads to the infirmary they past many students, all of which were dressed in the Balamb Garden uniform. All students had to wear a short navy blue jacket with an intricate silver design on the shoulders. The guys also wore navy blue trousers where as the girls wore a navy blue skirt with a silver trim and either knee high black boots or knee high black socks with black shoes. The girls also had to wear a large yellow ribbon that was attached to the collar of their jackets. This uniform was worn by the students who were still in training. The SeeD's uniform, like Merle's was black with gold trimming and with scarlet and navy blue features. The guys still wore black trousers while the girls wore skirts but with this uniform the guys wore knee high black boots and the girls and guys jackets were styled slightly differently to each other. But you didn't often see many people wearing this uniform as SeeD cadets were usually off on missions and doing jobs in other places.

Merle was beginning to feel awkward because of the silence that was following them as they were walking. She glanced to the right at Van and noticed that he was staring at the ground, obviously deep in thought and not feeling the tension that she did.

"_Hmm, I wonder what he's thinking about". _She thought to herself.

"Van is there something on your mind?" she asked tentatively.

Van, who had been lost in his own mind, was suddenly pulled back into reality when he heard Merle's voice. He looked up to see her inquisitive gaze and then returned his sight to the ground in front of him before answering simply…

"Not really", they both said at the same time. Merle stopped and put a hand over her mouth, trying to cover up a chuckle that she couldn't hold in. Van stopped a few steps ahead and turned around.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Funny?" she said slightly confused, then realisation hit her, _"Oh he must think I'm laughing because I finished his sentence"._

"No, no. It's not that!" she assured him. "_He probably thinks I'm a right idiot now, laughing about something as silly as that", _she thought as she tried to regain her composure. "I'm just happy", she continued calmly, "I feel like I'm beginning to understand my student a little. That's all", she smiled. Van put a hand on his hip and cocked his head to the side.

"I'm more complex than you think", he said matter-of-factly.

"Then tell me", she said, in an almost pleading way, "Tell me more about yourself". His body stiffened slightly and a frown crept onto his face, he always grew uncomfortable whenever people tried to get close to him and asked him how he felt.

__

"Why does she need to know?" he thought as he turned away.

"It's none of your…"

"Business", she cut in. _"He's so predictable". _Van let out a breath of frustration and annoyance.

__

"What is her problem?" he thought to himself. Merle started to chuckle again before walking past him, after a few moments he followed. When they got to the end of the corridor they went through a pair of sliding doors and came out into the heart of Balamb garden. It was a large circular hall and in the centre was an elevator on a round marble platform. Stairs then led down from this platform to a large ring shaped walkway and adjoining this walkway were eight bridge walkways, each one leading to a separate facility. All of it was suspended over a pool of crystal blue water. The hall also had fountains in the shape of fish in between each bridge and lush green plants and flowers growing in flower beds that were built into the marble walls of the walkways. Each bridge had a different coloured stripe running along the floor that represented the bridge's respectable area. Balamb Garden was a beautiful place with a very serene and peaceful air. One would never be able to tell first off that this was a military academy.

Van and Merle followed the walkways through the exquisitely architectured hall, and using the elevator made their way up to the second floor classroom. Van entered the large classroom and made his way to a desk at the back of the room, Merle came in shortly afterwards and walked to her desk at the front of the class and sat down in her chair before addressing all the students that were waiting.

"Good morning, class. Let's start with today's schedule", she said going straight to the point. "There have been some rumours flying around since yesterday….." she said looking around at all the anticipating faces staring back at her, "Yes, the field exam for SeeD candidates will begin later this afternoon".

The sound of people shuffling uncomfortably in their seats could be heard as well as some excited whispering and panicky gasps. The atmosphere was full of nervousness and worry. Merle continued with her announcement.

"Those not participating and those who failed last weeks written test are to remain here in study hall. Field exam participants will have free time until the exam. Just be sure you're in top condition. Meet in the hall at 1600 hours. I'll announce the team assignments there. Any questions?" she asked, nervous faces just shook their heads. "Oh, and Allen!" 

Allen, who had been sitting at the back, in the row next to Van's and had his arm resting casually on the back of the chair, looked up when Merle acknowledged him, flashing her one of his most charming smiles. "Do **NOT **injure your partner while training. Be careful from now on", she lectured. Allen frowned and looked across at Van who wasn't paying any attention and banged his fist on his desk in anger.

"_That damn Fanel deserved to get his arse kicked", _Allen thought to himself angrily, _"he needs to be reminded of his place", _and he felt the scar that Van had given him between his brow.

Ignoring Allen's violent act she finished, "Field exam participants. I will see you all later". Most of the students promptly got up and walked out of the classroom, while a few remained behind, revising their studies at their desks. "And Van, I need to talk to you", Merle called out.

__

"What does she want now?" he sighed and stood up and as he walked out of the row where he was sitting he came face to face with Allen. They stared at each other for a few moments, each one trying to over power the other. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife. Allen snickered at him before walking away, Van just glared after him. When he had left Van made his way to the front of class.

"You haven't been to the Fire Cavern yet, have you?" Merle asked when he reached her, "you won't be able to take part in today's SeeD exam if you don't pass this prerequisite". Van folded his arms and looked down in thought.

__

"I was gonna go this morning, but Allen……" she broke his thoughts when he didn't answer her.

"Hm, do you have a good excuse?" she asked teasingly, knowing very well that he hadn't gone and the reason why as well.

__

"No, I'm not going to use Allen as a scape goat", he thought to himself, "_I'm not going to whine about what happened. I'll take responsibility for not going"._

"Not really", he replied honestly.

"Then let's get going", she said assertively, "If you're not too confident yet you can always review your studies at the desk panel. I'll be waiting for you at the front gate, so come down when you're ready". And with that she left the room. Before Van left he looked over his notes on magic and GF's to prepare for his trip to the Fire Cavern, to capture the GF, Ifrit, and the test later in the day.

GF was an abbreviation used for Guardian Force. Only people who used GF's had the power to wield and control magic. Most of the SeeD's and some upper class students used them. GF's were intelligent and powerful beings, they couldn't be killed, but if they were defeated in a battle, then they would allow their defeator to use their powers. GF's could be acquired a few different ways; being defeated in battle, drawing them out from other beings, such as some powerful monsters, or summoning them from special items that they were trapped inside, are just a few.

The only other people who have ever been known to be able to use magic were sorceresses, but none are known of now, they hid their powers and removed themselves from society. This was because in recent decades, all of the countries had played a role in what was called 'The Sorceress Wars' and people now feared the sorceresses because of horror stories they had been told from the 'Sorceress Wars'.

But despite the superstitious tales told about sorceresses, they were just women, specifically, who possessed the power to use magic. The difference with sorceress magic however was that they could perform this skill with out the use of a GF. 

Van currently commanded two GF's, hoping later to make it three. He had Shiva, the guardian of Ice and Quezac, the guardian of lightning.

"_Shiva…she'd be the most effective against Ifrit", _he thought to himself.

When he had finished he got up and made his way to the door. As he was walking out he passed a group of students who were all watching him, one of them, a girl with dark brown hair and angry eyes walked up to him, Van stopped and looked at her.

"Hey you!" she said, "should anything happen to instructor Trepe, the Treppies will get you back!" she warned, then they walked out of the classroom, Van just watched them in astonishment. 

"_They are so weird", _he thought to himself.

The Treppies were a group of students that created a fan club for Instructor Merle Trepe; they praised Merle for everything and were always seen around or near her. Merle had been quite embarrassed by this at first, but after time accepted it, although she would sometimes become depressed, wondering if they were the only ones that cared about her.

As Van walked out of the classroom door into the corridor, from somewhere near by he could hear the sound of feet running on the marble floor, and the voice of someone whining.

"I'm late, I'm LATE, I'M LATE", as Van round the corner to get to the elevator he was nearly knocked off his feet as a girl crashed into him. She had been hurrying to get to her lesson, but when Van came round the corner she didn't have time to stop and she ran straight into him. He stumbled back a bit, but remained standing, where as the girl had not been so steady on her feet. She bounced straight off of him and fell back onto the floor, landing hard on her butt. Van stared at her for a moment as she rubbed her bruised backside. Then he asked hesitantly…

"Are you Ok?"

She looked up at him, she had long wavy blond hair that was tied back with a yellow ribbon that matched the one on her jacket and bright amethyst eyes and she was wearing the girls' student uniform. She had the kind of princess like beauty that he thought only existed in fairy tales. He had never seen her at Balamb before.

"Yeah, I'm fine", she said smiling as she gathered up a few books she had dropped and picked herself up from the ground. "Sorry, I was kinda in a hurry", she said apologetically, then she remembered her class. "Oh yeah! Hey, did you just come from that class?" she asked, gesturing towards the second floor classroom that Van had just come from. Van nodded. "Is…. registration over?", she asked tentatively, dreading the answer. He nodded again. She gasped loudly, "Woo…Oh, nooo…", she whined. "This place is sooo much bigger than my last garden". Then her face lit up as an idea struck her, "Oh, hey hey. I just transferred here. Do you think you could give me a quick tour of this garden?". She asked with her hands clasped together and a pleading look on her face.

"I don't really have the time", he said simply, walking around her, she stepped in front of him.

"Oh please", she begged. Van let out a sigh of frustration.

"_Well she is new…", _he thought to himself, "_If I help her she'll at least then leave me alone"._

"I can show you where the computer directory is. It's on my way anyway. That'll be able to help you", he offered.

"Oh wow, thanx", she said beaming. Using the lift they went down to the main hall and he took her to the computer directory that was at the bottom of the stairs. 

"This is the directory", he said, "Balamb Garden is pretty big, so if you want to find out how to get somewhere, this can show you. I'll give you a quick explanation of all the various areas".

"Yes, sir!" she joked at his serious tone, Van just ignored it.

"You'll find the dormitory in the North", he said pointing to a grey area at the top of the map, "The majority of the students live in the dorms. There aren't very many students who commute".

"Yeah, I'm in the dorms, too!" she said cutting in.

"West of the north block is the cafeteria, that's the red one, there's always a big rush for hot dogs. You better get used to waiting in line".

"Got it!"

"East of the North block is the car park marked with yellow, we usually take the garden car when a mission comes up. The front gate is located to the South", then he stopped as remembered something, "_That's right, I have to go meet instructor Trepe at the front gate", _he thought to himself, going silent.

"Hm? What's the matter?" the girl asked.

"Nothing…" he said simply, "next", he continued, pointing to a pink area, "we have the quad, located in the west block, it's an outside area where the students can spend their free time. There's an event being planned there…."

"I know! I know! It's the Garden Festival. It's going to be great! I'm planning on being on the committee. You wanna help out too?!" She asked eagerly.

"Let's just continue", Van said awkwardly, "In lilac, South of the West block is the infirmary. This is where you get treated for your injuries, but a lot of students just come here for advice."

"Who's the doctor?"

"Doctor Kadowaki. Now the East block. This is the training centre", he pointed to a green area, "it's the only facility that stays open at night. It's used for training, and they have monsters running loose here. If you don't take it seriously, you may end up dead. Just be careful", he warned.

She gave a small gulp.

"…ok".

"South of the east block is the library, in blue. There's a lot of information you can look up here, but the terminals in the classroom are a lot more efficient, and you already know about the classroom on the second floor right?"

"Yep I remember that one".

"By the way, the headmasters office is located on the third floor, you need permission to get in though".

"What's the headmaster's name?"

"Headmaster Cid Kramer, that's about it, anything else?"

"Got it!", she said smiling, Van nodded and turned to walk to the front gate, "Heeey", she called out, he turned around, "um… are you taking today's SeeD exam?"

"Yeah".

"Then maybe I'll see you again later. I've already finished my training at my previous garden. I'm taking the SeeD exam today too, good luck to the both of us huh! Thanx a lot!" she smiled and waved as she walked away. 

Then from behind him he heard someone frantically calling out his name. A member of the Garden staff came running up to Van, they were a strange bunch, they wore long red and white robes and large yellow hats that covered the whole of their head and faces and they were extremely strict. When he reached Van he spoke quickly.

"Student No. 41629 Van?"

"Yeah", Van replied

"You are supposed to be on your way to the Fire-Cavern, are you not!?"

"I'm just on my…" but the faculty member cut him off before he could finish.

"You are making Instructor Trepe WAIT!" he screamed. "Get going!" he added, before scurrying off, his yellow hat bouncing as he walked.

Van turned back and started to walk down the long open-air walkway to the front gate, hoping to avoid seeing anymore strange people. When he got there, Merle was leaning casually against a marble post. She had changed out of her SeeD uniform and was now wearing a peachy-pink zip up top that exposed her midriff, with scarlet, detached sleeves and a matching pink skirt with dark brown boots. Curled up and hanging at her side was a long metal chain whip; her weapon of expertise. She looked up when she heard him approach.

"Ready to go?" she asked, Van nodded, "is there anything you would like me to go over with you before we leave?" she added.

"No, I'm ready", he said, Merle nodded and walked out of the front gate, Van following behind.

It was a fair distance to get to the fire cavern, that took them through green open country. Along the way they met a few monsters, mainly bite bugs and catcherpillars; monsters that were very common in this area, but they were easily defeated by Van and Merle. Eventually they came to a dusty path which lead them to the mouth of the Fire Cavern, a large cave that was set into the side of a cliff, guarding the entrance to the cave were two Balamb Garden faculty members.

"You are about to enter the Fire Cavern, you need to be prepared", one said when they arrived. Van nodded and put his feet together, standing up straight and tall with his left arm by his side and his right hand held up a few inches from his chest; the Balamb Garden salute.

"I'm ready", he said with a confident and determined tone. 

"I'm his support", said Merle who was standing next to him, she then saluted also, "Instructor No.14, Merle Trepe", she said clearly and formally.

"You may enter the Fire Cavern", said the other, and they parted, allowing Van and Merle entrance to the cave. 

As they walked in it became dark and they were met with hot dry air, as they walked through the dark tunnel they could see a faint yellow light ahead and they soon came to a large chamber, filled with boiling lava that had a narrow path twisting through it. They followed the path through the chamber. After about five minutes of walking in silence Merle spoke up.

"My job is to support you in battle. Everything else is up to you", she informed him.

"Fine", he said bluntly.

"You know, the boys often choke on this test when I come with them. I guess my charm makes them nervous".

"_Whatever", _he thought as he rolled his eyes, annoyed by her continuous attempts at conversation.

"I'm just kidding!" she said when she noticed his unimpressed expression, "I'm just trying to keep you relaxed, that's all".

As the continued walking in partial silence they were soon met by a monster that resided in the Fire Cavern, it was a large, jagged, ball shaped creature, of a bright orange colour with an evil face. It was blocking their path. 

"That's Bomb, a fire element monster", Merle stated, "we'll have to fight it, it won't move otherwise, you can use an ice attack against these", she informed him.

Van wanted to save Shiva's energy for Ifrit, so he used his own magic for this fight. Raising his palm he gathered a bright blue light into his hand, and then released it, send it straight into the Bomb. From the point of contact, ice began to creep its way over the Bomb's body, freezing it completely. Losing its energy the Bomb fell back into the lava. With the path now clear, Merle and Van continued along it. They didn't encounter any more monsters along the way so it didn't take them long to reach their destination. They stopped a few metres short of a deep pit that was dug into the rocky ground in the centre of a small chamber, surrounded by sharp, jagged rocks that jutted out of the ground, making the chamber appear almost like a cage for some wild creature.

"I guess I was right. You and Allen are in a class of your own. You both have amazing strength and potential", Merle commented. Ignoring her compliment, Van walked past her to the edge of the pit, she sighed, "Ok this is it, are you ready?" she called out, He raised his hand in reply, not bothering to turn around. "Well you seem confident enough," she said quietly, more to herself than to him. 

After a few seconds of waiting a dry wind started to blow up from the pit, lifting small pieces of rock and rubble, followed immediately by a large column of fire shooting out from the ground, and from this fire came Ifrit, the Guardian Force of flame. He was a true beast GF, he had a large muscled body, covered in brown hair with a blazing red mane down his back like a streak of fire, razor sharp claws coming out his hands and large black horns protruding from his head. With his lips curled up in a snarl and dark eyes burning with rage, he looked truly menacing. 

Van watched the intimidating display before him and taking a deep breath got into his fighting stance with his gunblade held out before him.

"Here goes".

I know I left it on a cliff hanger, I'm so evil aren't I, you'll just have to come back and find out what happens now (unless if you've played the game) I decided to have Merle playing Quistis and Millerna playing Selphie. I don't know whether or not you guys agree with that or not, but I can't tell you the reasons yet, with out revealing stuff about later, so you'll just have to trust me I'm afraid. I know this chapter wasn't particularly interesting or action packed, but the next one will be, I just had to get all this out the way first. So please R+R, it really helps motivate me to write more, I spent about 6 hours today doing just half of this! I think I deserve it *puts on puppy dog face* I really wanna hear what you guys think. Oh and don't expect my next chapter to be out as quick as this one was as I haven't started that one yet, but I'll do it asap! Oh and in my last chapter I got something wrong, the story, A country's hope, is by Jounouchi, not Jounichou, I didn't realise my mistake till after I posted it. So anyway till next time. Thanx for reading!

Natalie xXx


	3. The Fire Cavern

Esca Fantasy

Hello my lovely readers, here is the third chapter of my story, I hope you guys are enjoying it!

Freelancer47: Thank you for all your praises, I really love your reviews J and you're right, the Treppies are weird, I think they should be locked in a cage and then we can poke them with sticks! hehe.

Little fairy: Yeah Escaflowne and ff8 are the best! I think Millerna is good as Selphie too, I wasn't sure if she should be Quistis, but I decided it would be better if Merle played her for reasons that we find out later.

Kanja: Thanx for the review, I'm really glad that Van and Squall have similar personalities, otherwise this would be really hard to do. And about the Quezac thing, I did that on purpose, I hate the 'otyl' bit on the end, I think Quezac is much better!

Love Witch: Mega lucky! Does your brother really look like Van, I can't believe there can be any body in this world that does. Hitomi will be making her appearance in chapter 5, so not long now, Allen's lackeys appear in this chapter so you can find out now and Folken will be in this story but Cid is just going to be himself, Folken is going to be someone more important. Thanx for reviewing.

SabineballZ: you should definitely try and play it, it's the best game ever! Thanx for the review!

Esca-lover: you have to play it, it's a great game! Thanx for all the positive comments! And make sure you get chapter 9 out ASAP! J   
  
Iesu: Thanx for the review, update your story soon k!

Thank you so much to all my wonderful reviewers *runs over and hugs you all* you really make me happy with your reviews and despite the hours and hours it takes to write this coz I gotta play the game and write down what they say as well and then type it up into a story it all makes it worthwhile when I read your lovely comments Thank you!  
  
  


Previously on Esca Fantasy  


After a few seconds of waiting a dry wind started to blow up from the pit, lifting small pieces of rock and rubble, followed immediately by a large column of fire shooting out from the ground, and from this fire came Ifrit, the Guardian Force of flame. He was a true beast GF, he had a large muscled body, covered in brown hair with a blazing red mane down his back like a streak of fire, razor sharp claws coming out his hands and large black horns protruding from his head. With his lips curled up in a snarl and dark eyes burning with rage, he looked truly menacing. 

Van watched the intimidating display before him and taking a deep breath got into his fighting stance with his gunblade held out before him.

"Here goes".

Chapter 3

The Fire Cavern  
  
Van raised his gunblade and charged towards the fire beast, he jumped into the air, swinging his blade down to strike, but Ifrit blocked the attack with one of his iron like horns and using a large powerful fist, he knocked Van to the ground with a hard punch. Van quickly jumped back up however and took another swipe at Ifrit, this time he struck him across his thick upper arm, cutting a long gash into him. Ifrit roared in pain, and using the same arm, backhanded Van, sending him flying back to where Merle was watching anxiously.

"You impudent humans!" Ifrit roared in anger. He leapt into the air towards Van who was still down, with one arm pulled back, ready to pound Van into the ground. Merle now decided it was her time to intervene. She quickly took her coiled chain whip from her side and swung it at Ifrit, causing a loud 'CRACK' to snap against his chest, throwing him off course, he landed a few feet away from Van. Merle jumped forwards, cracking her whip continuously at Ifrit, trying to keep him away from Van..

Van pushed himself up from the ground, his chest aching from the powerful blow and he watched as Merle held back Ifrit who was snarling furiously. 

"_Damn!_" he thought as he stood up, "_physical attacks aren't going to work against him, he's too strong" _and he watched as Ifrit managed to dodge under one of Merle's whip attacks and grabbed her arm, throwing her to the side like a rag-doll where she slid along the rough ground. 

"Merle!" he called out but she didn't move. Van's eyes narrowed and his brows pushed together in a frown; he was on his own now. While Ifrit was distracted he raised both his palms and concentrated, above Ifrit's head, a large, icy boulder, began to form and grow, Van then released it, crashing it down onto the fire beast's head. It left Ifrit feeling slightly dazed from the hard blow, but no where near defeated, it still wasn't powerful enough, despite being an ice attack and only heightened Ifrit's anger. 

"You will pay human!" Ifrit snarled and he jumped into the air again and opened his mouth wide, baring his large sharp fangs and a blazing breath of fire erupted from his throat, headed towards the lone soldier. Van managed to jump out of the way of the fiery blast just in time, he turned around and looked at the black, scorched earth where he had just been. Van growled deep in his throat.

"_Ice magic won't work either…..in that case….", _he closed his eyes tight and a mysterious wind started to blow around him and from no where four misty blue lights appeared, streaking across the battle field and twisting around each other till they came together at one point, as soon as they touched the ground, a sharp stalactite shot up and as the mist rolled off of it you could see a woman encased within the cold ice. Her eyes flew open and the ice that surrounded her shattered into thousands of pieces that sparkled around her like diamonds. This was Shiva, the Guardian Force of ice. She had cold blue skin that faded from light to dark on her hands and feet, long blond hair that was separated into three locks and icy eyes that could freeze anything with her gaze, she was a GF that was shrouded in mystery.

She raised her arms out in front of her, her blue hands held out elegantly and a bright light gathered at the end of her finger tips, as the light grew she brought her arms up over her head, arching her back gracefully before swiftly shooting the light towards Ifrit. Ice, snow and a strong wind followed the light, freezing everything in its path, including Ifrit. Ifrit roared as the coldness bit into his skin. Then the ice shattered just as before and Ifrit fell to his knees. 

"They….have Shiva", he panted, completely worn out by Shiva's powerful attack, "very well…I will….join you", he said bowing his head as his body disappeared and turned into a hand full of large blue lights that floated over to Van in large curving arcs before sinking into his body.

Van let out a breath of relief and smiled slightly, relaxing the tense muscles in his body. He sheathed his gunblade and turned towards Merle, who by now had recovered from her fall and was walking towards him, rubbing her sore head and wiping the dirt of her clothes.

"Well done, you succeeded in capturing Ifrit", she said, smiling proudly, "now let's get back to Garden, you need to be prepared for the field exam later". Van nodded his agreement and they left the Fire Cavern and made their way back to Balamb Garden.

***

"Once again well done", Merle said when they got to the front gate, "now change into your uniform and don't forget the field exam is at 1600 hours and we are meeting in the hall. Oh! And maybe you should go see Dr. Kadowaki and get her to look you over, Ifrit gave you some pretty hard blows, and you need to be in top condition for the exam." She advised.

"Yeah, ok", Van replied and Merle smiled. 

"Good, well then I'll see you later." And she walked into Garden.

__

"Is he finally coming out of his solitary shell?" she thought, after his unusual answer.

Van then walked into Garden also and turned left to walk clockwise round the ring walkway, when he reached the infirmary block he stopped outside it and thought for a moment.

"_I've spent enough time in there already today," _he thought to himself as he continued walking. 

"Maybe I'll go into the Quad for a bit and try to unwind before the exam", and he turned left down the next bridge walkway with the pink stripe on the floor and walked into the Quad. This was a beautiful area with trees and plants with subtle blue and yellow lights that shone around them, and with ponds and fountains of crystal blue water, like inside the main hall and there were dark blue, intricate, swirling patterns painted onto the silver floor. Van sat down on a bench under one of the trees and shut his eyes, feeling himself relax within the peace and serenity of the area.

"Excuse me, do you play an instrument?" Van opened his eyes and staring at him were two familiar amethyst orbs framed by wavy blond hair; it was the girl that had bumped into him earlier. Annoyed that she was disturbing his peace he shut his eyes again and laid his head on the back of the bench. "Come on don't ignore me." She said resting her hands on her hips, still he just sat there with his eyes closed, not acknowledging her at all.

"_The nerve of this guy", _she thought to her self huffily, "_why does he have to be so rude? Hang on a minute, I recognise him", _and she walked around to the back of the bench to look at his face that she couldn't see because he had his head back.

"Hey I know you, I ran into you by the classroom right?" Van sighed in submission.

"Yeah, that's right". He said and he opened his eyes again, but was shocked to see that she was leaning over him, looking down at him. Van suddenly felt very awkward and he sat forward, resting his arms on his legs. The girl walked back to the front of the bench and sat down next to him, with her feet tucked daintily to the side. 

"Hi, I'm Millerna Sarah Aston, I recently transferred here from Trabia Garden", she said with a friendly smile, "and you are?"

__

"Man, she's bugging me again, well I suppose it can't hurt to tell her my name," Van thought to himself.

"My name's Van Fanel", he said, sitting back up and looking at her.

"Well hello Van Fanel. I'm on the executive committee for the garden festival. If you're interested come by and check out the stage, it's my dream to form my own band, of course I'll need four people….wanna join?" she asked eagerly. Van stood up from the bench.

"No thanx". He said bluntly and he walked out of the Quad. Millerna sat and watched him as he left.

"_What is wrong with that boy_?" she wondered as she got up and headed further into the Quad where the stage was.

***

When Van got to his dormitory he looked at the clock on the wall.

"_I should probably get ready for the exam", _he thought and he walked into his room. The dormitories were quite pleasant places to live. Van shared his with another student, but he didn't talk to him much, he didn't even know his name. The dormitories had a main sitting room with a table and a few chairs around it, a small kitchenette to the side as well as a small bathroom and two bedrooms; Van was glad of this, he didn't want to share a room with some one he didn't know. Van's room was quite plain, it had a simple orange tiled floor, a bed in the corner with a shelf next to it where he kept a few books, a small desk at the end of the bed and a cupboard to the side with a large window on the outside wall. Van changed into his blue student uniform, leaving the jacket undone with a white T-shirt underneath and attached his gunblade sheath to his belt. He then left his dormitory and walked back to the main hall. 

***

Merle was standing by the directory in the main hall, looking over a few things on a clipboard she was holding when she noticed Van walking down the walkway.

"Van! Over here!" she called out. Van saw where she was calling from and walked over to her. "I'll be announcing the squad assignments for the exam now. Let's see….." she looked at the clip board in her hand, running her finger down a list of names, "you'll be with…….Dilandau Albatou, quite a lively fellow." Van put his hand on his hip and looked to the side in disapproval.

"Lively? He's just loud. Can't I switch members?" he moaned. Merle shook her head.

"I'm afraid that's not possible", then something behind Van caught her eye, "Over here! Dilandau!" Van turned around and saw a boy doing karate moves through the air. He threw a few punches to the left before doing a kick to the right, each move fast, powerful and accurate, he then went into a cartwheel followed by an impressive back flip, landing steadily on his feet. He twisted his upper body around to face his audience and gave a thumbs up sign, with a big grin on his face. He then walked over to where Merle and Van were standing, but stopped a metre or two short when he noticed Van.

Dilandau Albatou was a very cool student at Balamb Garden, he was the same age and height as Van, with flawless porcelain skin, blood red eyes and perfectly styled silver hair and also had an intricate black design tattooed down the left side of his face. He had the sleeves of his uniform jacket rolled up to his elbows and his collar hung open casually, and adorning his hands were a pair of black fighting gloves. He was very energetic but with a short temper and was known to act on impulse rather than reasoning. Dilandau entered Garden at the age of 13 with unsurpassed martial arts skills and was also known to have a small passion for fire.

"Whoa! I'm with you!?" he said in shock, looking at Van in amazement. He rubbed one of his sweaty palms oh his trouser leg and stuck his hand out for Van to shake, but Van just crossed his arms and looked away. Dilandau put his hand down after a few moments of holding it out and recovering from his shock returned to his cool facade. "You don't get along with Allen do you? I heard he whooped you pretty bad this morning". He said mocking taunt.

"We weren't fighting, we were training." Van retorted, not understanding why everyone was making such a big deal out of it, it seemed that Van and Allen's rivalry was always a hot gossip topic. 

"I bet you he doesn't think so", he said smirking, "everyone knows that Allen is just a pain in the ass, all you have to do is ignore him", he said in his smooth and cool voice.

"That's none of your-"

"-business", Merle said, finishing his sentence again, "Ahem…" she said, to get their attention, they both turned around and looked at her, "Excuse me, but….that pain in the ass you're talking about….. He's your squad leader." Van and Dilandau both stared at Merle in disbelief, neither one could believe what they'd just heard. Coming out of his shock; Dilandau stomped the ground in anger.

"WHAT!?" he shouted. Merle shook her head.

"It can't be changed". She said apologetically but firmly. "Allen! Over here." Allen walked up to the small group, still wearing the grey trench coat and not his uniform. Following him were his two lackeys; Gaddes and Teo. Gaddes was tall like Allen, with dark blue hair and blue eyes, he wore a blue jacket with black trousers and boots. Teo was a well-muscled student, which meant that he was shorter than Allen and Gaddes, he had dark brown hair and eyes and wore a sleeveless green top; to show off his muscles with black trousers and boots. 

__

"Gaddes and Teo tagging along as usual….Guess that makes up the whole disciplinary committee." Van thought to himself when they approached. They stopped in front of the group, Merle turned around to face them.

"Allen you're the Squad leader", she informed him, "You're all assigned to squad B. I'll be the instructor in charge, teamwork is of the utmost importance. Let's get through this exam everyone!" she said encouragingly.

"Listen up", said Allen, "Teamwork means staying out of my way. It's a squad B rule. Don't you forget it!" he said giving Van and Dilandau warning glares. Dilandau was shaking with anger, desperately wanting to punch Allen.

"Ok then everyone", Merle cut in, trying to avoid any trouble, "I wish all of you the best of luck".

"My dear instructor", said Allen in a suave voice, with one eyebrow slightly raised cockily, "I hate it when people wish me luck", behind him Gaddes and Teo were chuckling, "Save those words for a bad student who needs them eh?"

"Ok then", she replied calmly, "Good luck, _Allen_". Allen frowned, glaring daggers at her and growled in his throat.

"Gaddes," he said, not taking his gaze off Merle, "add instructor Trepe to the list."

"_The list?…..What's that?" _Van thought to himself, as he watched the confrontation before him. 

"Everyone here?" came a warm, jolly voice, catching everyone's attention. A short, balding man, with a large belly wearing a red waistcoat over a white shirt with beige trousers walked up to them, his hands clasped behind his back. He had bright blue eyes, surrounded by wrinkles and framed with glasses that rested on his bent nose. His thin lips were curved into a smile. "It's been a while everyone, how's everyone doing?" he asked. This was headmaster Cid, he smiled warmly at the group. "This exam will involve twelve members from squads A through D….You will be proceeding to a real battlefield. Obviously, the battles are for real. Life and death, victory and defeat, honour and disgrace….Each of these go hand in hand. There's only one way or the other", he said, gesturing with his hands, "How bout it? Are you still up for it?" He said, testing their bravery and nerve, with a twinkle in his eye. "You will be accompanied by nine other SeeD members, should you fail, these members shall get the job done. They always do. At least that's one less worry on your minds. The pride of Balamb Garden! The elite mercenary force, SeeD!" He said in a loud and proud voice, "Learn from them, obey their commands and accomplish the mission. Prove yourselves worthy of becoming a member of SeeD. Best of Luck!" he said, bringing his long and inspiring speech to an end. On that note Allen walked of, with Gaddes and Teo following, Van and Dilandau followed soon afterwards, they all headed for the Garden car park in the North East block, when they got there they all climbed into the yellow Garden car, all except Gaddes and Teo. The trio waited a few minutes for Merle before they drove off, heading for Balamb Port in Balamb town. The inside of the car was very big, they sat on four purple chairs facing each other. Merle sat opposite Dilandau, with a straight posture and her hands resting on her lap, next to her was Allen, he had his arms resting on the back of the chair casually, Van was opposite him, sitting forwards with his elbows resting on his knees, as usual, deep in thought. After a few minutes of driving in silence Dilandau began to get restless. 

"Hey Van, show me your gunblade, will you?" he said gesturing to the sheathed weapon at Van's side. Van just sat in silence, not responding to his request. "Come on, Man!"

"………."

"Just a peak".

"………."

"Fine", said Dilandau huffily, "Why you gotta be so selfish!?"

"………."

"Say something will you!?" he shouted in frustration, "What's on your mind?" Van sighed in annoyance.

__

"Why can't he just shut up and leave me alone?" Van thought to himself_._ Van decided to reply in the hopes that he would then stop bugging him.

"Nothing". Said Van and Merle in unison. Merle chuckled and Van just looked at her, unimpressed.

"_Why does she keep doing that? It's really starting to get on my nerves", _thought Van as the group fell back into silence, however, Dilandau got restless again, realising that trying to make conversation wasn't going to work he stood up and started throwing practice punches through the air.

"Stop that….." said Allen, "it's annoying…..", and he sat forward, leaning towards Dilandau with a smirk on his face, "…..Chicken."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" shouted Dilandau in a rage, getting into a fighting stance. Allen laughed to himself and Merle stood up with authority in her movements.

"Knock it off!" she said assertively and both of the boys backed down. She then sat back down in exasperation and shook her head. Dilandau sat back down and folded his arms staring at a corner of the passenger compartment, pouting.

"…..Instructor…..", said Van after more silence and he looked up at her. Merle turned to look at him questioningly. "Who was that girl in the infirmary this morning?" he asked. Merle looked up in thought and put her hand to her chin.

"Was there someone there? I didn't notice anybody else?" she looked back down at him, "Is there a problem?" he looked down, returning his gaze to the floor.

"No…..not really…." He replied simply. Allen chuckled to himself again.

"This is great….I have a chicken-wuss and a guy who just reached puberty in my squad…." He joked, chuckling more. Merle just put her hand to her head and let out a sigh from the stress and Dilandau shook with anger trying to control himself.

***

Soon afterwards they arrived at Balamb port and when the car parked up they all climbed out, and looked at their water vessel. It was floating gently on the small waves that lapped the side of the harbour. The harbour itself was only small, there were a few crates and boxes around but nothing much else.

"So that's the vessel?…." commented Van, nonchalantly. 

"There's no turning back now," said Allen, who was starting to feel the adrenaline, excitement and anticipation of the battle ahead. He looked at Van who was still watching the vessel, an unreadable expression on his face, "You're not scared are you?" he asked Van, smirking. But Van didn't get a chance to answer as a Garden member called out to them from near the vessel. They both drew their attention to the voice.

"Hey! You guys are the last! Hurry up and get in!" it shouted. Allen turned back to Van.

"Don't disappoint me now." He said as he headed towards the vessel. Van stood there a while longer, his thoughts concentrated on the approaching exam; a real life battle. Merle got out of the Garden car and noticed Van standing, gazing at the vessel, obviously lost in thought.

"Come on, move it!" she called out to him, taking on the role of an instructor completely. He didn't acknowledge her when she called, he simply made his way to the vessel. 

Up close he could see that it was a very smooth, streamlined shape and about the size of a bus it was painted dark blue/grey with a few subtle red and gold designs painted in various places, it was quite an elegant looking ship. He walked the stairs of a platform that jutted out from the harbour and entered the vessel through a door in its side where he found himself in a small room filled only with four chairs in a similar lay out to the Garden car, except these were separated with a small table down the centre, and on a wall to the right of the chairs was a large screen. Allen had already taken a seat on the right, nearest to the screen, Dilandau had done the same on the left, Van sat down in the chair next to Allen and Merle came in and sat opposite Van. Shortly afterwards a girl entered the vessel, closing it's door behind her, she then turned to face the group. 

She was wearing the SeeD uniform and she had wavy, silver blond hair that hung down to her shoulders and bright, sapphire blue eyes that were friendly but also serious.

"Hi Merle", she greeted the pink haired instructor with a warm smile. 

"Hi Celena" said Merle, standing up to greet her friend, "well, these are the members of squad B." She said, gesturing to the trio. This is Dilandau Albatou she said introducing the ruby-eyed boy. Dilandau stood up. 

"That's me," he said coolly, while smiling and giving a casual wave.

"This is Van Fanel, " Merle continued, pointing to Van who stood up and saluted.

"Pleased to meet you." He said in formal politeness. Celena nodded her head in acknowledgment. 

"Finally," said Merle looking up at the blond haired soldier, "this is-"

"-Allen," Celena finished for her, "How many times has it been now Allen?" she said sarcastically, not surprised at all that he was there.

"Oh, I just love these exams…." He replied casually, Celena simply shook her head in disbelief and turned to a more serious note.

"I will now explain the current situation and the mission," she announced as she made her way to the large screen. "Our client for this mission is the Dollet Dukedom parliament. A request was made for SeeD 18 hours ago. Dollet has been under attack by the Galbadian army since about 72 hours ago," she explained as the screen behind her came on, showing a map of Dollet with little red and blue dots and arrows, representing the Galbadian and Dollet soldiers. "49 hours into battle, Dollet abandoned their position in the inner city. Currently they have retreated into the nearby mountains and are reorganizing their troops." She pointed to an area of the map, " That's the current status. Now onto the mission objective. According to our reports, the G-Army is mopping up the Dollet troops in the mountain region. We're to make a landing at Lapin Beach. We're then to eliminate the remaining G-Army soldiers within the city and liberate it A.S.A.P. Afterwards, SeeD members will intercept any G-Army forces trying to make their way into the city from the mountain region." She said in conclusion.

"So what are _we_ supposed to do?" Allen asked.

"SeeD candidates are to eliminate the G-Army inside the city." She informed them.

"Sounds important!" commented Dilandau proudly.

"Sounds boring," Allen said dully, "so what you're saying is, we do all the dirty work?…."

"…..Oh, it hardly needs to be said, but…. the order to withdraw takes priority. Do not forget!" she informed them, ignoring Allen's complaints completely. "We'll be there soon. We anticipate battle as soon as we disembark. Just be prepared. That's all." And she left the room, leaving the candidates to psyche them selves up for the battle.

"My first real battle……I'm getting pretty nervous." Said Dilandau.

"Better not piss in your pants." Allen retorted.

"Huh!? You talking to me?" Dilandau said hotly, his blood now boiling in his veins. Allen just chuckled to himself, he loved how easy it was to get under Dilandau's skin.

"….Bastard…" Dilandau muttered to himself.

"Ok guys, that's enough talk," Merle cut in again.

"Well then Van, go outside and see what's going on," said Allen casually, as if telling Van what to do was a regular thing.

"….No.." said Van simply.

"This is an order from your captain, Van. Now go outside." He said more firmly and authoritatively. 

"_Damn him, he's right, so long as he's the squad leader I have to do what he says." _Van thought to himself angrily, although he didn't let it show.

"…..Ok," he replied begrudgingly and he stood up and made his way to a look out point on top of the vessel. 

***

The sky was streaked with orange and gold as sunset slowly approached. The sound of splashing water and engines could be heard as a dozen more vessels surrounded them and were all speeding through the water effortlessly. Van looked forwards, the wind was blowing through his raven hair, making it dance all around his head, as land came into view he narrowed his brown eyes. Ahead of them he could see large explosions on the edge of the land, causing water to shoot up into the air, and smoke could be seen rising from small fires through out the town. Small bodies were running all over the place in chaos and gunshots could be clearly heard, even through the loud explosions that kept going off. As they got closer and closer to the battlefield, Van could feel his heart beat racing and his veins were filled with adrenaline as he prepared himself for the difficult battle ahead that would determine his fate.

So there it is, chapter number three, as always please review, I really appreciate it when people do.

I'm not sure if I'm making my chapters too long, this one was 8 pages, what do you guys think? Should I shorten them or keep it the same? Next chapter is a lot of action and fighting but in the next one there's a party! J and we finally get to see Hitomi. So I'll try and get that out for next week. Thanx for reading.

Natalie xXx


	4. Dollet: Part One

Esca Fantasy

Sorry this chapter took slightly longer to be posted than the others, but it was quite a tough one to write, and also I just bought the Escaflowne movie and I love it so much! It's fantastic! So I've been watching that a lot too. And I've got a little bit of bad news, I decided to break the Dollet battle down into three separate parts, as it's such a big event, so I'm afraid it'll be a little bit longer till we see Hitomi, but she is coming! Slowly but surely. You'll just have to be a little more patient.

Freelancer47: Thanx for your review, I'll make sure I keep the chapters this length.

Love Witch: I'm glad you agree with the pairings. Barbie Boy! lol, that made me laugh! And I'm pretty sure I put the chicken-wuss bit in, it's when they're in the car on the way to Balamb right? Unless I'm thinking of something different to you?! Anyways, enjoy! ^_^

Esca-lover: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it. Make sure you get your next chapter out soon, I can't wait to read more! ^_^

SabineballZ: Hitomi was gonna be in the next chapter, but as I just explained it'll be a little longer now, sorry! Thanks for reviewing.

Little fairy: Ok, I'll make sure I keep the length the same. Your brother deleated your game?! That was mean. I haven't actually even finished the game yet, I can't figure out how to get onto the lunatic pandora when it's above tear's point, it's not really important yet, but I'm gonna need to get past that some how so I can finish the story, oh well. Oh and sorry about the Hitomi thing, she'll now be in chapter…….7. I hope what I write will keep you satisfied till then!

Previously, on Esca Fantasy

A sharp stalactite shot up and as the mist rolled off of it you could see a woman encased within the cold ice. This was Shiva, the Guardian Force of ice. 

Ifrit roared as the coldness bit into his skin and fell to his knees. 

Ifrit's body disappeared and turned into a hand full of large blue lights that floated over to Van in large curving arcs before sinking into his body.

~*~*~*~

Van opened his eyes and staring at him were two familiar amethyst orbs framed by wavy blond hair, "Hi, I'm Millerna Sarah Aston, I recently transferred here from Trabia Garden", she said with a friendly smile.

~*~*~*~

"you'll be with…….Dilandau Albatou"

Van turned around and saw a boy with blood red eyes and silver hair doing karate moves through the air.

"You don't get along with Allen do you? I heard he whooped you pretty bad this morning"

"We weren't fighting, we were training."

"I bet you he doesn't think so, Allen is just a pain in the ass"

"Excuse me, but….that pain in the ass you're talking about….. He's your squad leader." Van and Dilandau both stared at Merle in disbelief

"Listen up", said Allen, "Teamwork means staying out of my way."

~*~*~*~

"So that's the vessel?…." said Van.

"There's no turning back now,"

~*~*~*~

"So what are _we_ supposed to do?" Allen asked.

"SeeD candidates are to eliminate the G-Army inside the city." She informed them. "The order to withdraw takes priority."

~*~*~*~

As they got closer and closer to the battlefield, Van could feel his heart beat racing and his veins were filled with adrenaline as he prepared himself for the difficult battle ahead that would determine his fate.

Chapter 4

Dollet

The vessel pulled up onto the sandy beach, and the whole of the front opened up to create two large doors that opened out. Everyone swiftly ran out onto the beach, Celena bowed to Merle politely before running off to her duties and Merle paused in the doorway of the vessel.

"Ok remember, you are to secure the central square!" she instructed and then she disappeared back inside the ship. Allen turned around to face the chaotic town ahead, a smirk adorning his features.

"Let's move out!" he ordered, thrusting his sword into the air. They all ran up the beach, following Allen's lead up a small flight of stairs that lead to the roads of Dollet and it wasn't long before they came across a couple of Galbadian soldiers. The G-soldiers wore strange uniforms that covered the whole of their bodies that consisted of a blue jump suit type outfit with metal armour covering their chests, shoulders and hips with metal arm guards around their lower arms and on their heads they wore metal helmets that came down over their eyes. 

The two soldiers attacked, Allen took one while Van and Dilandau dealt with the other, finishing them off easily. Then they continued towards the central square, winding their way through the narrow cobblestone roads and destroying soldiers as they went, every so often passing other members of SeeD.

"The central square is up ahead", Allen announced, gesturing with his gunblade, "Hey! All you Galbadian cowards out there! Come out and show your faces! Don't leave me hanging now!" he yelled as he ran off up the road.

"What a moron." Dilandau muttered sprinting after him, Van sighed inwardly and followed. When they reached the central square Allen was already in the middle of a battle against half a dozen G-soldiers, Van and Dilandau intervened, Dilandau punching and kicking soldiers unconscious to the ground while Van used his gunblade to the same effect. Once all the soldiers had been defeated Allen turned around to face Van and Dilandau.

"Alright, I want you guys to scout the area for enemies," He ordered, gesturing with his gunblade. Van and Dilandau walked off, searching around the streets that were connected to the central square. 

The central square itself was a circular area in the middle of the town, it's main feature was a large fountain, and the cobblestone road that encircled the fountain had blue and white patterns painted onto it with little spotlights sunk into the floor. Aside from this there was a fancy hotel, a restaurant opposite and lots of pretty flower beds lined along the roads. Dollet was a nice little holiday town where people could spend their time on the beach, in the restaurants or café's or looking around the little shops in the town. The town's usual quaint and peaceful atmosphere was very different to the tense one that hung over it now.

A few minutes later, Van and Dilandau returned to where Allen was waiting by the fountain, having found only one lone soldier.

"I think that's all of them." Van reported to their squad leader as they approached.

"Well then, we're on standby until the enemy comes," Allen replied, shifting his weight and resting his hand on his gunblade, the other he ran through his long blond hair, "standby…..how boring….."

Van kept a sharp eye on their surroundings as they waited, constantly on the look out for any enemies or threats that might approach. Off in the distance they could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions, the whistle of missiles being dropped and loud bangs; all coming from the direction of the mountains. 

"Sounds like it's starting." Van commented.

"Bring it on." Allen said intrepidly, he then noticed that a stray dog was sniffing at his leg, "GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled at it, swishing his gunblade with anger, the dog instantly panicked and ran off. This irritation triggered his frustration and impatience that was burning within him. "Hey! Galbadian soldiers," he shouted, slashing his weapon through the air, "What are you waiting for!? Come show me what you got!" Dilandau and Van just shook their heads in exasperation; they were starting to get used to Allen's violent outbursts.

***

Almost half an hour later, the three young soldiers were still waiting by the fountain. Dilandau was pacing up and down with his hands stuffed in his pockets, Van was still on the look out and Allen was standing quietly to the side, tapping his gunblade on his shoulder; not being as patient as the others his frustration was boiling inside of him and it was taking his every effort not to go mad and kill someone right there. From somewhere near by they heard the chiming of a clock, indicating that it was half past five; 1730 hours to them.

"…..Nothing….." Van said monotonously, with a slight hint of confusion and disappointment, he had hoped for a slightly harder challenge than the one they'd had so far.

"This is what I can boring." Dilandau stated tiredly. 

"Still keeping us waiting?…." Allen said in a dangerously low voice, "That's it!….I can't take it anymore! What the hell are we doing here!?" he snapped. Suddenly the dog from earlier came running back down the street, barking at something behind it. Van and Dilandau ducked behind the fountain while Allen remained hidden by the restaurant. They watched as a group of Galbadian soldiers sneaked past the hotel and up the adjoining road, Van counted seven soldiers altogether. Once they had all passed, the trio came out of their hiding places.

"It's the enemy." Van remarked in confusion.

"Where the hell are they going?" asked Dilandau echoing Van's tone. They all looked up from the direction the soldiers had gone and in the distance, on top of a cliff that overlooked the town, they saw a large metal structure that they hadn't noticed before. "Hey, what's that up there?" Dilandau asked, voicing all of their thoughts.

"Our next destination." Stated Allen, his lips curled into a determined grin.

"Wha…But that's against orders!" cried Dilandau.

"Weren't you just saying how bored you were?" Allen replied calmly. Dilandau just stood their, his mouth gaping; he didn't know what to say.

"Van!" he said desperately, looking to Van for support. Van turned away.

"I stand by the captain's decision." Van said bluntly. Allen paused and turned around.

"…...Captain's decision?" he said slowly and incredulously as he walked up to Van and grasped him on the shoulder. "You want to wreak some havoc too don't you?" he implied. Van roughly shoved Allen's hand off his shoulder.

"It's a good opportunity to test out my training," Van retorted, "thanks to you I feel like I can take on anyone. Even if they do fight dirty, like you." Allen gave a small chuckle.

"You'll thank me when the time comes." He replied cockily. All the while they were talking, Dilandau just stood to the side, rooted to the spot with incredulity, his jaw hanging.

"What the hell?….." he said breaking out of his shock and walking up to them, "I thought you guys didn't get along? You're like, all buddy-buddy now." He said in confusion, watching them as they stood there with their gazes locked on each other, a thread of understanding passing between them. "Listen." He continued, still trying to get his words into their heads, "This isn't an ordinary battle. It's an exam, an important one. I'm telling you, we have to stick to orders."

"Then you stay here. I don't need any boy scouts." Allen taunted.

"What was that!!!?" Dilandau yelled with rage, the dog that was still near by, barked at Dilandau's sudden clamour. Van turned to the vehement Dilandau and laid a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Don't take him seriously Dilandau," he said quietly to the vexed soldier, Dilandau folded his arms and looked away, grumbling to himself. Van turned back to Allen, "Allen, if we're going to go, let's hurry." Allen nodded.

"The enemy is headed for the facility." he said authoritatively, pointing to the cliff with his gunblade, "We, squad B, are to secure the summit. Move out!" and he ran off down the streets towards their destination, Van followed shortly afterwards.

"Hmph…..fine." said Dilandau begrudgingly and he sprinted after them. They ran through the ruined roads and across a large bridge on the edge of the town that took them to the foot of the mountain ranges, from here they continued up a flight of stairs that had been carved into the mountain side, and dirt paths that wound their way up the slopes. Strewn either side of the paths were the bodies of defeated Dollet soldiers, the trio ignored this and continued running. As they neared the summit a noise in the bushes to the left of the path distracted them. Out of the bushes came crawling a Dollet soldier who looked pretty beat up. 

"Ahhh! W-who are you!?" the soldier cried out, when he saw the three young soldiers standing there

"Don't worry, we're SeeD candidates," Van said reassuringly, bending down to one knee so that he was level with the man, "we've been dispatched by Balamb Garden."

"So what's going on up their?" asked Allen impassively.

"The Galbadian soldiers have entered the communication tower," the soldier reported, "on top of that…..that place has always been a nesting ground for monsters." Van raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Monsters, huh?" he commented nonchalantly.

"Yeh." the soldier affirmed, "If you're going up there, be caref….Ahhh!" the soldier was cut off by a loud rustling in the bushes behind him and screamed as something pulled him in, Van lunged forwards to grab him but was too late and watched as the man disappeared into the dense undergrowth, the expression of terror on the soldiers face was the last thing that Van saw of him. Dilandau and Allen stood to the side, tense and in shock. 

Suddenly, they all heard a loud hissing sound that sent shivers up their spines and a large monster with a long, slithering body raised itself from the bushes. It was an Anacondaur, a serpent monster that closely resembled a cobra, about 60 feet long it had sand coloured scales and a large flat head with fans on either side that were lined with spikes and shook threateningly, it's large yellow slit eyes were locked on the young soldiers. Anacondaurs were known to be extremely hostile and had great speed and strength. It hissed menacingly at them and brandished its large sharp fangs that protruded from its mouth, each one dripping with poison. The three students gazed up at it, tense and on edge with senses acute, each one standing still as a statue, not daring to move for fear of provoking it. Even Allen, who would usually be on a fighting frenzy by now, was aware of the danger they were in. They all stood there like that for a few moments, seeing who would make the first move, them or the serpent. Suddenly the slits in the Anacondaur's eyes narrowed and it shot forward with incredible speed, mouth gaping towards its nearest target. 

Van, who was still crouched in front of the bushes, managed to throw himself to the side just in time, he quickly sprung to his feet and unsheathed his gun blade. Following Van's actions, Allen and Dilandau also prepared for the inevitable battle, Allen held his gunblade firmly with both hands and Dilandau raised his clenched fists. 

The Anacondaur raised itself up from the ground, pulling a huge chuck of rock from the ground where it had hit and using its powerful jaw it crushed the rock into little pieces effortlessly. It turned its head so that its eyes could focus on Van, the prey that escaped. Allen saw this as an opportunity and he rushed forwards, his gunblade trailing through the air behind him and he brought it down, full force onto the Anacondaur's neck. Jumping back Allen was infuriated to see that his attack didn't even leave a scratch on the serpent's touch scales. The serpent whipped its head around to face its attacker, Allen ran forward again and slashed at the monsters gaping mouth, successfully cutting through its long upper fangs. 

Enraged, the Anacondaur gave a loud and shrill scream-like hiss and lunged forward towards Allen. Allen done a neat back flip away from the incoming fangs, but using quick reflexes, the serpent changed its route and headed towards where Allen had landed. The blond soldier looked up and was shocked to see that the serpent was headed straight for him, not having enough time to move Allen raised his arms up in front of him and braced himself for the attack, but it never came. Instead he felt a strong heat burning in front of him, and when he opened his eyes he saw that the serpent had been thrown off its course by a powerful fire spell that Dilandau had used, although the spell was strong enough to prevent the attack, it didn't injure the snake at all. Van was getting frustrated with the chaotic and failing battle.

__

"We need to work together to a plan if we're going to beat this monster," he thought to himself.

"Fire attacks and weapon attacks won't work against it!" Van called out to them, "Dilandau! Use a scan spell and find out what its weakness is, Allen and I will keep it busy." And Van turned to face the Anacondaur.

"Ok." Dilandau called out in reply and he shut his eyes in concentration. With his mind's eye he could see hues of blue and purple floating around each other in a moiré of colour, then slowly a mental image of the Anacondaur appeared and he focused on it trying to find a weakness in the monster.

Meanwhile, Van rushed towards the Anacondaur and took continuous swipes and slashes at it but, the serpent, with it's great speed, dodged all of them easily, simply sliding its long flexible body out of the way, however it grew annoyed with Van's continuous assaults and using it's tail it sent a blow to Van's side, which sent him rolling along the ground. With Van out of the way, the monster turned its attention back to Allen, determined to get revenge for the damage he done to its fangs. With lightning fast speed the Anacondaur looped around the soldier, trapping him in it's constricting coils. Allen grunted deep in his throat and struggled to get free, but his arms were pinned to his sides, there was nothing he could do. 

Van moaned and shook his head to remove the dizziness as he pushed himself off the ground. Looking up he saw that Allen was caught in the Anacondaur's squeeze attack, and was in trouble.

"Dilandau! You have to hurry!" Van shouted out as he ran to aid Allen.

In the back of his mind Dilandau could hear Van's voice echoing for him to hurry.

__

"Come on," he urged himself in his mind, _"what's its weakness?" _Slowly, as if on cue, the image started to change, first a part of the monsters body glowed and then the image faded away and was replaced with one of an ice symbol. Dilandau quickly put the pieces together and broke the spell.

"Van! The scales on the underside of its body are the weakest and it isn't very strong against ice attacks!" The albino informed. Van took in this information and quickly formed a plan to save the slowly suffocating Allen.

"Dilandau, I want you to attack it so that the underside of its neck is exposed."

"You got it!" he called as he ran towards the serpent. When he got to it he used a flame spell and set fire to one of its thick coils, which caused the serpent to glare down angrily at him. Dilandau knew the attack would have no effect, it was merely a set up for his next move. The Anacondaur quickly brought its jaws down to strike the nuisance, but Dilandau swiftly responded by hitting the serpents jaw with a strong upper-cut that sent the monsters head flying back, exposing its neck as desired. That was Van's cue. 

With his palms raised out in front of him he concentrated on forming an icy blue orb, it glowed brightly, like a star. Then he sent the ball of light flying towards the Anacondaur, when it came into contact with the serpent the ice started to spread. It crept over the majority of the monsters body, freezing it completely, the Anacondaur lost its grip on Allen and he fell to the ground on hands and knees, gasping for breath and glad to be out of the death hug. The now frozen Anacondaur toppled backwards and smashed into little pieces when it hit the ground. 

All three students stood for a moment to catch their breaths and their thoughts.

"Well that was fun," Allen said flippantly as he straightened up, "come on." And he ran off up the slope, apparently unfazed by his near death experience. Dilandau stared after him incredulously.

"…Fun? Puh-lease….." and he and Van both ran off after Allen. As they neared the communication tower they saw that it was built into a small crater in the cliff and the path they were on wound down into it. They paused at a point in the path that over looked the entrance of the tower to assess the situation. Both Allen and Van lay on their stomachs on the edge of the path, while Dilandau was further back, crouched down. They watched the doors as a G-soldier in the blue uniform walked out to meet two others.

"The generator is up and running." The first one informed.

"No problem with the boosters?" the second asked.

"What the hell are they doing?" Dilandau whispered.

"Cable disconnection confirmed! Beginning exchange process!" and with that, all three soldiers walked back into the building.

"Could it be repairs?" Van suggested, as they picked themselves up from their positions on the ground. 

"Who cares," said Allen impatiently, folding his arms, "this _must_ be your first real battle," Allen commented at their over analytical talk, "you scared?" he asked Van, a hint of ridicule in his voice. 

"…I don't know…I try not to think about it." Van answered sincerely with arms akimbo.

"I love battles. I fear nothing." Allen replied, his head held high with pride. "The way I look at it, as long as you make it out of a battle alive, you're one step closer to fulfilling your dream." Van turned to face him, slightly surprised with Allen's current talk.

"What!? Your dream?"

"You have one too don't you?" Allen inquired. Van folded his arms and looked away.

"…Sorry, but I'm going to pass on that subject." He said huffily. Dilandau who had been standing to the side became curious with their conversation and approached the rivals.

"Hey, what're you guys talking about?" he asked.

"Mind your own business." Allen replied bluntly. Dliandau growled deep in his throat, a scowl adorning his features. He punched the air in frustration and anger, Allen snickered and crossed his arms.

""What's the matter Dil'? Swatting flies?" Allen taunted, satisfied with the look of pure rage that Dilandau gave him, he walked off down the path to the communication tower's entrance.

"Damn you!…" Dilandau whispered balefully, barely containing the rage that was burning in his blood. He threw a hard punch into the rocky ground, creating a small dent with his fist. 

Meanwhile, Van smiled inwardly, _"I guess it's not so easy to just ignore him, huh? Dilandau."_ Van thought to himself, remembering Dilandau's earlier words;

__

~*~*~*~

"Everyone knows that Allen is just a pain in the ass, all you have to do is ignore him", Dilandau said in his smooth and cool voice.

~*~*~*~

Van's thoughts were broken however by a familiar female voice above them.

"There you are!" someone called out with joy and relief. Both Van and Dilandau looked up to the direction the voice came from and standing on a ledge above them was the blond haired girl. Carefully and tentatively she made her way down the steep slope towards them, but halfway down some rocks became dislodged under her foot and she slid down the last few feet, landing roughly on her knees. Wincing slightly from the hard fall she looked up at them and smiled weakly. Van and Dilandau just stared at her incredulously as she stood up and dusted herself off. "Hey it's you again!" she exclaimed when she saw Van, she smiled brightly, then her tone and composure changed as she remembered her task. "Are you squad B?" she asked them. Van just nodded. "I'm a messenger from squad A. Names Millerna. I was told your squad captain is Allen, where is he?" Suddenly a small figure running across the area below them caught their attention.

"One of these days I'll tell you about my ROMANTIC dream!" Allen shouted out to them before running into the communication towers entrance. 

"That's our squad leader." Van informed her impassively.

Millerna let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders. 

"This sure is tough….." and with that she jumped straight off the path down to the area below. Van and Dilandau just watched, completely stunned at what she just did, the drop must have been about fifteen feet. Below them they could hear her shouts; apparently she landed safely. "Captain! Wait up!!!" Then she turned around to face the shocked students. "What are you waiting for!? Come on! Come on!" she shouted out to them, waving her arms impatiently. Van walked slowly to the edge of the path and looked down. Dilandau watched Van's actions uneasily.

"Van…you're not going to jump are you?…..It's a cliff!"

"That's the plan." Van replied simply and jumped of the edge.

"I…I can't believe he just did that!" Dilandau stuttered incredulously, then his face set in determination, "Ah hell! Here goes!" And following Millerna and Van's actions, he too jumped of the cliff.

Ok people what did you think? I decided to do the 'previously, on Esca Fantasy' thing cos I read a lot of stories and when people update I often forget what has happened so far, so I have to skim through all the chapters again to remind myself, so I thought I'd do this little thing to kind of recap the important points of the last chapter or past chapters who's events need to be recapped because they are linked with the events in the new chapter, so did you think that was helpful or not? Either way, I'm gonna continue doing that cos I like it. I'm not really completely satisfied with this chapter, I think I may have rushed it a bit, or something, maybe I'll review it later, please tell me what you guys think, is this chapter up to scratch or does it need improvement? I think that's all I needed to say. Thanks for reading!

Natalie xXx


	5. Dollet: Part Two

Esca Fantasy  
  
Hey, I know all of you are very eager to see Hitomi, so I got this chapter out as soon as I could. I also managed to fit the rest of the Dollet event into this one chapter, so in the next one, Hitomi will definitely be making her appearance.  
  
LiLSeReNiTiE: Here's the next chapter, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy it.  
  
Freelancer47: I'm really glad you like it so far, and I'll definitely keep the recaps. ^_^  
  
Love Witch: hehe, you're really going to hate Allen even more by the end of this chapter :p you'll see what I mean. Enjoy!  
  
SabineballZ: She may look innocent but she's a tough bird really! No, the dog doesn't have any important role later, his only job was to piss Allen off and to alert them of the approaching G-soldiers. Hitomi is going to be in the next chapter, which I will get up as soon as possible.  
  
Mystic Angel: Yes, this is an AU fic, I'm following the story line of the game final fantasy 8. Thanks for pointing out the mistake with the speech marks and commas. I'll try and get it right from now on and I'll go back and fix the other chapters later ^_^ And I know there's a lot of battle scenes, but that's what happens in the game, so that's what will happen in the story, you'll just have to bear with it, and Hitomi will be in the next chapter, so not much longer to wait now! And yes, you'll have to wait to find out who that mysterious girl is, she's a character in the game that I decided not to change.  
  
Esca-lover: Hey, I'm glad that the way I write is clear enough for you and other readers to understand, I often get confused during fight scenes as well, and I really wanted the characters actions and movements to be clear in my story so they could be seen vividly in the readers mind. So I guess I'm doing quite well with that so far. And again, thanks for pointing out the mistakes, I will try and get those sorted another time, if you spot anything else, don't hesitate to tell me, I'd appreciate the help ^_^ and as always, update soon!  
  
Snow blossoms: I'm so glad you like this fic so much. Hitomi will be in the next chapter and you'll have to find out what she is, her role changes as the story progresses. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
K: I'm glad you like it, and I'm sorry if it is a bit confusing for non ff8 players, but if you would like to elaborate on things that you are confused by or think could be explained better, then please let me know and I'll do my best to improve it.  
  
Long gone reader: No, I'm afraid Van doesn't have wings in this (  
  
Meghanna Starsong: I'm glad you liked the first chapter and the way I wrote the battle scene. And I'm also glad you're picking up on all the little things that will become bigger issues later, like the thing with Merle secretly liking Van :p Hitomi will be up in the next chapter and yes, I'm faithfully following the story line of final fantasy 8.  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, this has been my most reviewed chapter so far ^_^  
  
Previously, on Esca Fantasy  
  
The vessel pulled up onto the sandy beach, and everyone swiftly ran out onto the shore, Celena bowed to Merle politely before running off to her duties and Merle paused in the doorway of the vessel.  
  
"Ok remember, you are to secure the central square!" she instructed, "Move out!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"The central square is up ahead", Allen announced, gesturing with his gunblade, "I want you guys to scout the area for enemies,"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
They watched as a group of Galbadian soldiers sneaked past the hotel and up the adjoining road, Van counted seven soldiers altogether. Once they had all passed, the trio came out of their hiding places.  
  
"It's the enemy." Van remarked in confusion.  
  
"Where the hell are they going?" asked Dilandau.  
  
"Our next destination." Stated Allen. "The enemy is headed for the facility." he said authoritatively, pointing to the cliff with his gunblade, "We, squad B, are to secure the summit. Move out!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
As they neared the summit a noise in the bushes to the left of the path distracted them. Out of the bushes came crawling a Dollet soldier who looked pretty beat up.  
  
"The Galbadian soldiers have entered the communication tower," the soldier reported, "on top of that...that place has always been a nesting ground for monsters."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Suddenly, they all heard a loud hissing sound that sent shivers up their spines and a large monster with a long, slithering body raised itself from the bushes. It was an Anacondaur.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Allen rushed forwards, his gunblade trailing through the air behind him and he brought it down, full force onto the Anacondaur's neck. Jumping back Allen was infuriated to see that his attack didn't even leave a scratch on the serpent's touch scales.  
  
Van was getting frustrated with the chaotic and failing battle.  
  
"We need to work together to a plan if we're going to beat this monster," he thought to himself.  
  
"Fire attacks and weapon attacks won't work against it!" Van called out to them, "Dilandau! Use a scan spell and find out what its weakness is.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
With lightning fast speed the Anacondaur looped around the blond soldier, trapping him in it's constricting coils.  
  
"Dilandau! You have to hurry!" Van shouted out as he ran to aid Allen.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"The scales on the underside of its body are the weakest and it isn't very strong against ice attacks!" The albino informed him.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
The Anacondaur quickly brought its jaws down to strike the nuisance, but Dilandau swiftly responded by hitting the serpents jaw with a strong upper- cut that sent the monsters head flying back, exposing its neck as desired. That was Van's cue.  
  
With his palms raised out in front of him he concentrated on forming an icy blue orb, it glowed brightly, like a star. Then he sent the ball of light flying towards the Anacondaur, when it came into contact with the serpent the ice started to spread. It crept over the majority of the monsters body, freezing it completely, the Anacondaur lost its grip on Allen and he fell to the ground on hands and knees, gasping for breath and glad to be out of the death hug. The now frozen Anacondaur toppled backwards and smashed into little pieces when it hit the ground.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Both Allen and Van lay on their stomachs on the edge of the path, while Dilandau was further back, crouched down. They watched the doors as a G- soldier in the blue uniform walked out to meet two others.  
  
"The generator is up and running." The first one informed.  
  
"No problem with the boosters?" the second asked.  
  
"What the hell are they doing?" Dilandau whispered.  
  
"Cable disconnection confirmed! Beginning exchange process!" and with that, all three soldiers walked back into the building.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"There you are!" someone called out with joy and relief. Both Van and Dilandau looked up to the direction the voice came from and standing on a ledge above them was the blond haired girl. "I'm a messenger from squad A. Names Millerna. I was told your squad captain is Allen, where is he?" Suddenly a small figure running across the area below them caught their attention.  
  
"That's our squad leader." Van informed her impassively.  
  
Millerna let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders. "This sure is tough..." and with that she jumped straight off the path down to the area below.  
  
Van walked slowly to the edge of the path and looked down. Dilandau watched Van's actions uneasily.  
  
"Van.you're not going to jump are you?...It's a cliff!"  
  
"That's the plan." Van replied simply and jumped of the edge.  
  
"I.I can't believe he just did that!" Dilandau stuttered incredulously, then his face set in determination, "Ah hell! Here goes!" And following Millerna and Van's actions, he too jumped of the cliff.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Dollet: Part Two  
  
"I knew jumping off that cliff was a bad idea," Dilandau grumbled, as he rubbed his bruised backside.  
  
Van had handled the jump fairly well; he landed with bent legs followed by a small shoulder roll, due to the force of landing from such a high jump. Dilandau however had not been so fortunate; after he jumped, he landed clumsily on his feet and fell back, his butt hitting the rocky floor with a thump. Millerna watched the two as they picked themselves up and made their way over to where she was standing.  
  
"You two ok?" she asked them.  
  
"Oh yeah, we're just great." Dilandau replied sarcastically.  
  
"Well that's good," she smiled, ignoring his tone, "let's get going." They followed her across the open area that lead to the buildings entrance, covering the short distance quickly so they wouldn't be spotted. When they reached the large metal doors they stopped and observed the huge structure that loomed over them.  
  
"So this is the communication tower." Dilandau commented.  
  
"Sure is big." Millerna said, gazing up to the sky, trying to find the top. But her attention soon snapped back to the metal doors when they slid open and the three G-soldiers from earlier came running out. The three students got into their fighting stances, as they had been trained to when an enemy approached, but they did not need to bother, as the soldiers simply sprinted past them, desperate to get away from the tower as quick as they could. The reason for their behaviour was soon made apparent.  
  
"COWARDS!" Allen shouted out after the retreating soldiers, and he came running to the door swishing his gunblade with anger and excitement.  
  
"Heeey! Squad B captain." Millerna called out to him, but he ignored her call and casually walked back into the building, not paying any acknowledgement that his team-mates were even there. "The captain's getting away!" Millerna whined, before hurriedly entering the communication tower, with Van and Dilandau following right behind her.  
  
When they went through the doors they came to a fairly large cylindrical room with no viewable ceiling. Everything was made out of cold metal and every little noise they made echoed loudly off the bare walls. The only thing they could see in the dark, shadowy room was an elevator in the centre, which consisted of a simple metal platform with no guards or railings.  
  
"Hey! Squad B captain!!" Millerna called out, her voice echoing up the shaft above them.  
  
"He must have gone up." Van commented, he didn't see anywhere else that Allen could have gone, although it was hard to see much in the room, so there might have been a door hidden somewhere in the shadows that they hadn't spotted. But at that moment, it seemed their best option was the one in front of them. "We'll have to take this lift." Van instructed, stepping onto the platform, Dilandau and Millerna followed suit.  
  
"So how is this thing supposed to work?" Dilandau asked, noticing that there were no buttons or switches anywhere to operate it. Then as if on cue, the lift buzzed into life and started to ascend.  
  
"Wow, this lift is pretty cool!" Millerna remarked excitedly, carefully peering over the unbounded edge of the platform.  
  
"Don't get too excited or you'll fall off." Dilandau taunted with a smirk.  
  
"Yeah, like I'm really going to!" she retorted back.  
  
***  
  
On the roof of the tower, that over looked the town, the sea, and the surrounding miles, a Galbadian soldier in a red uniform, was busy fiddling with the wires and mechanics in an open panel on the side of a small satellite. The panel was luminous with green lights and had large red cables and tubes hanging from it. The top of the tower was made up of a large circular platform, and evenly distanced around the edge were three small satellites, each one pointing in a different direction. In the centre of the platform stood a huge cylindrical frame, which surrounded a deep hole that bore straight down through the middle of the communication tower. Various tools and equipment were scattered around the soldier's feet, and every so often he would grumble to himself. From behind him, a Galbadian soldier in the blue uniform approached.  
  
"Major Biggs! There have been sightings of a monster-shaped shadow on top of the tower." He reported, but the soldier in red simply ignored him and continued to work on the panel, switching wires and parts in an attempt to make it work. "Major Biggs!" the blue soldier called out, trying to get Biggs' attention.  
  
"Be quiet! I'm busy!" The man called Biggs snapped at the younger soldier, fully engrossed and concentrated on his job he started to mumble. The soldier in blue could make out certain things as, "Geez, what's with all these crappy old tools?" and some moaning, along the lines of, "Why do I have to make all the repairs?!" Realising he wasn't going to receive a reply, the blue soldier decided to leave.  
  
"Sir, I'll check around while the repairs are being done." He announced, and headed back in the direction he had come from.  
  
***  
  
As the three students reached the top of the shaft, they came out to a large open-air area, with grated metal flooring, and, like the lift, the edges of the floor were absent of any railings or boundaries. A few metres away they could see a Galbadian soldier hastily working on one of three satellites that occupied the area.  
  
Biggs failed to notice his small audience as he gave a triumphant "It's complete!" when he had finished the repairs.  
  
Upon hearing those words, they felt the floor begin to vibrate and shake, and Van watched as a spanner from Biggs' tool supply, fell through a hole in the grated floor to the waves below. But a rumbling sound behind him soon stole his attention, and he turned around and looked up, to see a large, metal, column-like structure, come zooming up through the cylindrical frame in the centre of the platform, doubling the height of the communication tower. Then, with the loud sound of buzzing electronics and whirring mechanical parts, the column bent to an angle, followed by the top half of the column separating into three parts that opened out, and long sheets of metal slid out from each one, till they all connected. The edges turned inwards to create a large metal bowl shape, and in the centre of the bowl, dozens of long prongs started to glow till they created a beam of white light that shot up into the orange tinted sky. Now on top of the communication tower, stood a huge satellite that was as big as the tower itself, lights or red blue and white pulsated all over the outside of the tower and the sound of machinery working could be clearly heard; the tower had come back to life.  
  
When the impressive display had finished, Van confronted the soldier in red, who still hadn't noticed their arrival.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" he called out. The red soldier jumped slightly at the demanding and unexpected voice and turned around.  
  
"Huhhh? Likewise MISTER! What do you think you're doing!?" he yelled, then he looked around and realised that he was surrounded by three enemies. "H- Hey! What happened to all the soldiers down below!? WEDGE," he called out for the blue soldier, "take care of these twerps," but he didn't get a reply, "W.Wedge?" noticing that Wedge, or any other Galbadian soldiers weren't around to back him up, he started to panic and tentatively side- stepped towards the lift, not taking his eyes off the students. Van, Dilandau and Millerna just stood there, watching the sack of nerves before them. ".I.ah.well.ahh.I seem to be done here so I'll be on my way." As he made a last dash for the lift, he came face to face with steely blue eyes and long blond hair. Biggs gave a cry as he jumped away from Allen's gunblade that came swishing down at him, knocking a tool that he had been clutching out of his hand.  
  
"Sorry to crash the party." Allen announced coolly.  
  
"AHHH! Are you CRAZY!!!" Biggs yelled at him, still in shock from nearly losing his head.  
  
"Just shut up." Allen commanded, swishing his gunblade with vexation.  
  
"Major Biggs!" Everyone turned to face the new voice. The blue soldier came running up and stopped next to Biggs, "What's the enemy doing here?" he asked with slight perplexity as he raised his sword and got into a fighting stance. Ignoring his question Biggs portrayed his relief of having help with anger.  
  
"Wedge! Where were you?" he berated.  
  
"That's enough talk," yelled Allen, "stop wasting time and fight!" But the two soldiers didn't get a chance to reply as a small bluish tornado descended upon them and engulfed them both, they screamed as it sucked them up into the sky, there it abandoned them and they fell back down, landing in a heap on the other side of the roof. Van and the others watched with jaws agape, as a large monster appeared from behind the large satellite. The best way to describe it would be as a Frankenstein monster; each part of its body was different, from large red leathery wings, to long orange arms with long clawed fingers and a hairy purple head and torso. And it was a big monster, with exceptionally small and evil black eyes and apparently very hostile.  
  
"What the hell is it?" Dilandau cried, as he ducked a hit from one of the monsters long arms.  
  
"I have no idea," Van replied, "its nest must have been disturbed when the satellite opened up."  
  
"It's an Elvoret." Millerna informed them "My instructor at Trabia Garden told us about them"  
  
"So how do we defeat it?" Van shouted as he took a swipe at one of the Elvoret's hands that came swooping down on him.  
  
"Well it's weakest against fire and electric attacks, but because of its size, our level magic attacks won't be strong enough, only fire and electric GF's will be able to beat it!"  
  
"So does any one have those kinds of GF's?" Dilandau asked.  
  
"I've got Ifrit and Quezac, but I can't use them both at the same time." Van thought to himself.  
  
"I've got Quezac and Ifrit." Van announced, "But I can't use them both at the same time, one of you will have to draw Ifrit from me and use it." Upon hearing this Dilandau's features lit up.  
  
"I'll take Ifrit!" he called out eagerly.  
  
"Ok then, Millerna and Allen, can you keep it distracted?" Van called out to them.  
  
"No problem." Millerna replied, while removing her nunchaku from the sheath that was strapped to her back.  
  
"I can't believe you guys need to use GF's, they're a waste of time if you ask me, all I need is my gunblade and I'll slay anyone who's in my way." Allen commented superciliously as he casually stood to the side, his gunblade resting on his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, well no one asked you!" Dilandau yelled, raising a fist.  
  
"Dilandau! Forget it, you need to concentrate." Van instructed and raised his right palm while closing his eyes. Dilandau gave a last grumble before making a mirror image of Van, so that their palms touched. As they concentrated on the transfer, a blue aura started to form around their bodies.  
  
Using her nunchaku weapon, Millerna managed to fend off the swipes and slashes that the Elvoret attempted to make. Then after a few attempts it stopped, and Millerna watched as its torso slowly started to expand, realising what it was about to do she called out to Allen.  
  
"Allen! It's going to use it's stormy breath attack, we'll have to cast a protect spell, and fast!" Allen absorbed this bit of information and raised his right palm, creating a pink protection shield around himself. He sneered at Millerna who just stared at him with disbelief.  
  
"I can't believe he's not going to help me, he doesn't care what happens to them." She thought, but Allen drew her attention by pointing scornfully at the monster who was almost ready to release its attack, sending Allen a death glare, she quickly sprinted over to stand in front of Van and Dilandau, who were still in the transfer process. Standing in a brace-like stance, with her feet planted steadily on the ground, she stretched both arms out in front of her, and focused all her thoughts and energy into creating a protection bubble strong enough to cover all three of them.  
  
Her hands began to glow with a pink light that spread from her palms into a sphere that surrounded all of them. And not a moment too soon as the Elvoret released its attack on them, breathing out a strong gust of wind that looked like a tornado had just emerged from its mouth.  
  
While Millerna struggled to keep them all safe, Van and Dilandau were near completion of the transfer. A strong blue light travelled down Van's arm, smoothly switching from one palm to another and then travelled up Dilandau's. With the transfer complete, the blue aura faded away and both young soldiers opened their eyes, bringing them back to the battle. Looking around, they realised they were in a protection bubble and out side they could hear the raging wind, trying to tear into it. Van noticed that Millerna was holding the shield up on her own, and obviously struggling with it as her eyebrows were creased together in a frown and small beads of perspiration were starting to form on her forehead.  
  
Van decided now was the time to call Quezac, as Elvoret's attack would seemingly go on for a long while yet and she didn't look like she would last much longer.  
  
In the sky above them, grey clouds slowly came together, twisting and turning around each other lazily creating loud rumbles of thunder, then from the centre of the gathering a large bolt of lightning shot down and hit the floor in front of them. From the point of contact a greenish yellow form slowly rose from the ground, this was Quezac, a dipterous GF.  
  
It slightly resembled a bird; with two wing-like limbs that were spread out majestically and with a beak shaped head, except that its head was featureless; with out eyes or a mouth. Its body was a pale yellow colour that glowed slightly with olive green markings on its wings and fan-like tail.  
  
Electricity started to collect at the end of its snout and it focused the energy into a powerful lightning blast that it sent straight into the Elvoret. Because Elvoret was a flying monster, its body absorbed all of the attack, causing it to cry out with a deep and raspy growl from pain and anger, which also caused it to break its attack. Realising this, Millerna broke the shield and relaxed her stance, taking in deep breaths.  
  
"Did you...do it?" she asked, turning to face them.  
  
"Yes! I got Ifrit!" Dilandau exclaimed, throwing a happy punch into the air, "I got a fire GF!"  
  
"Yeah we did, thanks Millerna." Replied Van.  
  
"Anytime." She said, smiling weakly. Van turned to face the still beaming Dilandau.  
  
"Well I guess I'm never going to get Ifrit back, it's a good thing I wasn't compatible with it yet." Van thought to himself.  
  
"Dilandau!" Van called, the albino soldier abruptly stopped his celebrating and looked at Van, "Attack Elvoret with Ifrit now." Dilandau smiled and gave a thumbs up.  
  
"Sure thing."  
  
"Wait!" Millerna cried.  
  
"What is it?" Van asked, slightly perplexed.  
  
"While you guys were doing the transfer I could sense something within the monster, I think it's got a GF trapped inside it." She explained. Van and Dilandau both looked towards the still stunned monster in concentration, but couldn't sense anything.  
  
"You sure Millerna?" Dilandau asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm positive! Let me try and draw it out."  
  
"Ok, but it won't stay stunned for much longer." Van informed her, she nodded and closed her eyes, she stood like that for a few moments as Van and Dilandau patiently watched and waited but nothing happened. Then suddenly a handful of blue lights phased out of the Elvoret's torso and slowly drifted over to Millerna in curving arcs then sinking into her body.  
  
"Ok, you guys can attack it now." She informed them as she opened her eyes. They both nodded at her consent and summoned their GF's.  
  
As Quezac had already been summoned it was still floating gently to the side of the battlefield, waiting for its commands.  
  
Dilandau concentrated on summoning Ifrit. As it was the first time he would be summoning this GF, he knew it might be a bit tricky. A few metres in front of him a large column of fire erupted from the ground, climbing high into the sky with twisting yellow flames, when the fire dissipated it revealed Ifrit. Landing on the ground with a thud he gave a loud and intimidating roar to display his strength and power.  
  
He then jumped up into the air and opened his mouth wide; baring his large sharp fangs and a blazing breath of fire erupted from his throat, straight towards the Elvoret. The monster tried to shield itself from the powerful attacks by crossing its long thin arms in front of its body, but to no avail. Scorching flames licked every part of its body, burning its hair, skin and wings. The electric attack surged through it and small jolts could be seen sparking from its form.  
  
The Elvoret cried loudly from the onslaught of overwhelming attacks and tried in vain to flap its wings, but they were torn and burnt, as was the rest of its form. It fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, indicating the end of the fight. The victorious students watched as its body dissipated and turned to dust, which floated up into the darkening, evening sky.  
  
"Well, you guys took long enough with that." Allen remarked snidely.  
  
"We would have done it sooner if you had helped!" Millerna retorted hotly.  
  
"I can't pass up the chance to see you guys sweat a little now, can I." And he turned his back on her, blanking out any replies she might have.  
  
Millerna suppressed the urge to shout at him, or worse, and switched to a more formal tone.  
  
"Squad B captain, I have new orders!" she announced. Allen looked at her questioningly, so she continued, "All SeeD members and SeeD candidates are to withdraw at 1900 hours and are to assemble at the shore." She reported. Allen twisted his body back around to face her.  
  
"Withdraw!? There are still enemies around!" he argued with disbelief, gesturing with his hands and looking at her angrily as if she was the one that made the order.  
  
"I know, but I'm just a messenger." She reminded him, clasping her hands behind her back innocently. Allen swished his gunblade with anger.  
  
"An order to withdraw takes priority," Van reminded him, resting his hands on his hips, "I don't want to miss the vessel." Allen sighed loudly with exasperation.  
  
"What time did you say?" He asked Millerna.  
  
"As I said, we are to assemble at the shore at 1900 hours." Allen pushed up his left sleeve and looked at his watch.  
  
"1900 hours..we only have thirty minutes!" he thought to himself in alarm, he looked up at the other students and dashed to the lift.  
  
"You got thirty minutes to get down to the shore!" he informed them as the lift started to descend, "Better run!" and with that last bit of unhelpful advise, he disappeared into the floor.  
  
"Heeey! Wait for us!" Millerna cried out, but it was too late, he was gone.  
  
"Who the hell does he think he is?" Dilandau asked angrily.  
  
"Who knows," answered Van in exasperation, they heard a buzzing sound nearby, indicating that the lift had come back up, "let's go." He instructed, and they all jumped onto the lift.  
  
Nearby, on the other side of the roof, a slightly dazed Biggs groggily crawled over to a communication device that lay on the floor nearby and spoke into it with a raspy and breathless voice.  
  
"Those little twerps are the targets, now go and destroy them!" he commanded the anonymous listener, before passing out again.  
  
***  
  
When the lift reached the bottom of the metal shaft, they ran towards the doors, their feet pounding hard on the metal floor, causing their footsteps to echo loudly around them. When they got outside they hadn't ran but a few metres when a loud banging above them made them stop in their tracks. They all twirled round and tilted their heads to look up at the roof of the tower.  
  
There, they saw and heard a large machine, clatter its way to the edge of the roof and jump off, landing a few metres in front of them. They all braced themselves for the heavy impact and shielded their eyes to protect themselves from the dust that billowed up around it. When the dust receded, they looked up to see a large crab shaped machine in front of them. It was black with red and silver designs on it and had four pointy legs, one at each corner of its square body. And in Dilandau's opinion, it was a cool looking machine.  
  
"I think maybe now would be a good time to get the hell out of here!" Dilandau suggested as they all ducked from a metal limb that came swinging out at them.  
  
"That's a good idea." Millerna agreed and they all sprinted back up the path, but they were soon blocked off when the machine jumped in the way; obviously not willing to let them go any time soon, if at all. Van growled deep in his throat, he new they didn't have long to get to the shore, and this thing attacking them wasn't making their task of getting there any easier.  
  
"We're going to have to fight it, it's the only way we'll be able to get past." He informed them, "It's a machine so if we all use lightning spells we should be able to beat it quickly." Van instructed.  
  
Millerna and Dilandau obeyed Van's order and focused on creating lightning spells; grey clouds rushed over head and three blue bolts of lightning shot down simultaneously and hit the machine. With electricity surging over its metal body, it creaked and groaned as it tried to move, but only resulted in collapsing to the ground.  
  
"Let's go." Van called out, and the three students hurried past the machine, sprinting down the path towards to stone steps that lead to the bridge. As they reached the bottom of the steps, they stumbled a bit as they felt the ground begin to rumble and shake and loud bangs could be heard behind them. They turned around and were shocked to see the machine pounding down the path, hot on their trail.  
  
"I thought we already bust that thing up!" Dilandau cried.  
  
"Forget it, let's go!" Van ordered, realising that if they spent anymore time fighting it they would miss the vessel.  
  
They ran as fast they could down the long bridge, the sound of loud bangs behind them indicated that the machine was gaining on them, but not daring to turn around they continued running. When they reached the town they were slightly relieved as the machine would not be able to fit down the narrow streets, but their relief was quickly replaced with shock as the machine simply crashed through the buildings on either side as if they were made out of cardboard.  
  
After a few minutes of running through the town the machine was still catching up to them, so Van, who was at the back of the group, spun round on his heel and hastily used another lightning attack against it, but he knew it wouldn't have as strong an effect as earlier as he was attacking it by himself now. The machine froze and Van took this opportunity to carry on running. It may not have been beaten, but at least there would be some distance between them now. As he rounded a corner he lost sight of the machine and could see that he was a couple of dozen metres behind Dilandau and Millerna, who were still running as if their lives depended on it, which they most definitely did.  
  
After a few more minutes of sprinting, they came to the last long street and could see the shore at the end,with the golden sun sinking into the ocean, it's last rays tinting the sky orange and red. Van started to relax, thinking that they had lost the machine, but it wasn't so. From behind him he heard a loud crash and looking over his shoulder he saw that that machine had just smashed through a building on the side of the road and was now hot on Van's trail, closer than ever before. Van pushed himself to run faster, and could feel his heart in his throat, beating wildly as he took in deep and ragged breaths, urging his body to go faster.  
  
As he reached the stairs that lead down to the beach the machine was upon him and smashed one of its metal claws into the floor, to avoid the hit Van had to forget the steps and dove over the wall, landing in a heap on the sand. The machine also crashed into the sand, only a few feet behind him. Van groggily pushed himself up and continued running, he could see the vessel, it was so close but still so far and he could hear the machine thundering behind him.  
  
At the ship, Dilandau was hovering in the doorway, and Millerna was standing on the beach, both urging Van to go faster and praying that he would make it. Millerna ran onto the vessel to stand next to Dilandau and shouted out to Van as the machine got closer and closer to him.  
  
"Van! Come on! Hurry!"  
  
Now, but a few metres away from the vessel, Van could practically feel the machine breathing down his neck and just as it was about to attack, he made a last desperate leap for the vessel, hoping against hope that he would reach the it, but at the same time realising that he would not be able to avoid the large metal claw that was headed straight for him.  
  
I hope everyone enjoyed that, once again please inform me if there is anything that you think could be improved; that would help me a lot. So until next time..thanks for reading.  
  
Natalie xXx 


	6. A Close Call and a Mysterious Girl

Hey everyone, here's the eagerly awaited chapter, I don't have anything else to say so here are my review responses:

Paige Moonsword: I'm glad you liked the first chapter ^_^

Snow blossoms: I'm glad you liked the cliff hanger, although I didn't think it was that good, cliff hanger's aren't my strong point :p And yeh, Allen's a major arse in this, you'll have to wait and see what happens to him, he gets his come upance eventually. And once I've posted chapter 10 I'm gonna take some time to review what I've done so far and look at what people have said about improvements so I'll do my best to try and put in a summary. ^_^ 

Honeypot: *blushes* thank you so much I'm glad you like it and that there's someone who likes action in esca fics. 

Esca-lover: Yeah I was a bit unsure of how to do that line, I'll fix it once I've posted chapter 10 when I'm going to review everything I've done based on what you guys have said. Thanks so much for reading ^_^

Freelancer47: Thank you so much for all your wonderful compliments, I'm so happy that you like this story and my writing so much. Oh and I know about the Quezac thing, I just don't like the otyl bit at the end, I think it sounds weird. Thankyou for reading and reviewing every chapter so far! ^_^

Love Witch: Yep here she is, she is finally going to be making her entrance. What kind of ff8 jewelery did you get? I know you can get the griever chain that Squall has but I don't know about anything else. Thanks for reviewing, and again, great job with Forbidden Romance ^_^ I love it!

Little fairy: that's ok, I forgive you. ^_^ and here it is the chapter you've been so eager to come out. And I done all that part in the game, but the first time you get on it in esthar you get kicked off don't you. After that the LP moves to tear's point and that's where I have to get on it now. The gameguide says to just fly into it but that doesn't work :s oh well. Here it is, enjoy!

SabineballZ: Here is the next chapter and the answer to all your questions, enjoy! ^_^

Previously on Esca Fantasy:

"Squad B captain, I have new orders!" Millerna announced. Allen looked at her questioningly, so she continued, "All SeeD members and SeeD candidates are to withdraw at 1900 hours and are to assemble at the shore." She reported. 

"1900 hours……we only have thirty minutes!" he thought to himself in alarm, he looked up at the other students and dashed to the lift, "You got thirty minutes to get down to the shore!" he informed them as the lift started to descend, "Better run!" and with that last bit of unhelpful advise, he disappeared into the floor.

~*~*~*~

When they got outside they hadn't run but a few metres when a loud banging above them made them stop in their tracks. They all twirled round and tilted their heads to look up at the roof of the tower. 

There, they saw and heard a large machine, clatter its way to the edge of the roof and jump off, landing a few metres in front of them. They all braced themselves for the heavy impact and shielded their eyes to protect themselves from the dust that billowed up around it. When the dust receded, they looked up to see a large crab shaped machine in front of them. It was black with red and silver designs on it and had four pointy legs, one at each corner of its square body. And in Dilandau's opinion, it was a cool looking machine.

"I think maybe now would be a good time to get the hell out of here!" Dilandau suggested as they all ducked from a metal limb that came swinging out at them and they turned and ran towards the shore.

~*~*~*~

Van, who was at the back of the group, spun round on his heel and hastily used another lightning attack against it, but he knew it wouldn't have as strong an effect as earlier as he was attacking it by himself now. The machine froze and Van took this opportunity to carry on running. It may not have been beaten, but at least there would be some distance between them now. As he rounded a corner he lost sight of the machine and could see that he was a couple of dozen metres behind Dilandau and Millerna, who were still running as if their lives depended on it.

~*~*~*~

As he reached the stairs that lead down to the beach the machine was upon him and smashed into the floor, to avoid the hit Van had to forget the steps and dove over the wall, landing in a heap on the sand. The machine too crashed into the sand a few feet behind him. Van groggily pushed himself up and continued running, he could see the vessel, it was so close but still so far and he could hear the machine thundering behind him.

At the ship, Dilandau was hovering in the doorway, and Millerna was standing on the beach, both urging Van to go faster and praying that he would make it. Millerna ran onto the vessel to stand next to Dilandau and shouted out to Van as the machine got closer and closer to him.  
  
"Van! Come on! Hurry!"  
  
Now, but a few metres away from the vessel, Van could practically feel the machine breathing down his neck and just as it was about to attack, he made a last desperate leap for the vessel, hoping against hope that he would reach the it, but at the same time realizing that he would not be able to avoid the large metal claw that was headed straight for him.  


Chapter 6

A Close Call and A Mysterious Girl

Van dived towards the ship and just as the claw was about to strike, the loud, drilling sound of a machine gun resounded through the air and the robots attack was cut short. Van landed on the edge of the vessels' floor, his lower half in the water. He looked up to the top of the vessel and saw Merle, who was firing the large machine gun weapon that the ship was equipped with, sending a shower of bullets into the robot to prevent its attack on Van. The robot, however was not going to give up that easy, it struggled to get back up and crawl it's way to the vessel, trying in vain to lift it's claws and attack the ship. But Merle just blasted through its mechanical limbs, disabling its movements. When the machine could take no more it fell to the ground, the diminishing red light on its face plate indicating that it had finally been defeated.

Van pulled himself into the vessel and took a last look at the battlefield as the doors slid shut and the vessel pulled away from the shore. He sat back against the wall to try and catch his breath and calm his racing heart, the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. 

"Are you ok?" asked Millerna, kneeling down next to him.

"Yes." he answered, still breathing heavily.

"That was a close one!" remarked Dilandau, "That thing nearly got you, good thing instructor Merle was here." They then heard the sound of footsteps hastily coming toward them and they all turned their heads in the direction of the sound as Merle appeared from round the corner. She paused when she reached the small group and a look of relief crossed her face when she saw Van was ok, but she quickly covered it up.

"Well it's good to see you're not hurt," she said impassively, folding her arms across her chest, "that one was a little too close for comfort."

"No, I'm fine." Van reassured.

"Excuse me instructor, but is there some way I could contact my squad instructor and captain?" Millerna inquired.

"Don't worry about that," Merle replied, waving a hand, "we've already informed the squad A captain of your where abouts and you are to meet back up with them when you return to Garden." She told the blond haired student. Millerna nodded in reply.

"Hey instructor, where is Allen?" asked Dilandau, remembering their group leader.

"Oh, he's in the passenger area, he arrived a few minutes before you three." She informed them.

"Well it's nice to know he's been taking it easy while we were risking our necks." Millerna said bitterly. 

"He's crazy!" commented Dilandau, "he goes charging into the battlefield like a maniac, makes us leave our post and then abandons us at the end leaving us to do all the hard work!" 

"Yeah, I've heard all about Allen's actions and behavior and it will be dealt with when we return to Garden." Merle assured them, "For now, we should go to the passenger area." Both Van and Millerna stood up from their positions on the floor. "Van, why don't you go dry yourself off." She added, noticing Van's wet clothes. Van nodded and they all left the room.

***

When they reached Balamb Port, the sun was almost touching the horizon. The vessel pulled up to the harbour where a small group of SeeD members were waiting for them. As the SeeD candidates exited the vessel, grateful to be stepping onto safe ground, they heard a call from near by.

"Allen!" It was Gaddes and Keo, Allen's lackeys. They walked up to the blond haired soldier who turned to face them.

"How'd it go?" asked Keo in his deep booming voice. Allen rested his hands on his hips and gave a tired smile.

"...All they did was get in my way, being a leader isn't easy."

"It's good to see you back safely boss." Said Gaddes as they walked to the Garden vehicle. Merle emerged from the vessel and walked over to Van, Dilandau and Millerna.

"Good job!" she commended them. She then noticed that they were one student short. "Where's Allen?" she turned her head to follow the direction of Van's pointing arm and saw Allen by the vehicle. She sighed and then brought her attention back to the three. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. Make sure you three are back at Garden by sundown, you're free till then, Ok dismissed!" She instructed.

The three students left the harbour and headed in the direction of the car park and were met with a loud horn beep as Allen and his lackeys drove past in the vehicle.

"H-HEY!" Dilandau shouted, running a few feet after it. "Not again! There goes Mr. Ego..." He moaned as the car disappeared from view.

"Looks like we'll have to walk it." Said Van and they headed through the town towards Garden.

Balamb was a country that was settled on a large Island in the Northern Hemisphere of the world. Balamb Garden was built in the center of the Island while the town was a short walk away, built next to the ocean. The rest of the Island was made up of dense forests and open country. The north of the Island was bordered with high mountains while the southern side, where the town was situated was made up of long shores and beaches. Balamb town was home to the majority of the country's population while the rest would reside in the country. The town had one main train station that allowed travel to the Western Continent through an underground tunnel. Aside from houses and the station Balamb had one or two hotels, and some nice little shops where people could buy simple things and necessities. 

"Hey Van," Dilandau called after a few minutes of walking. Van turned around and looked at him inquiringly, "mind if we go into the weapons store," he asked, nodding his head in the direction of a side road, "I want to upgrade my fighting gloves, and as we're here I might as well do it now." He said. Van looked up at the sky; they still had a little while till sundown.

"Ok." he replied. And they walked down the side road till they came to a small store with a red door set into an arch shaped doorway. They walked in and were greeted by the store owner.

"Hello there, what can I do for you?" he asked. Dilandau walked up to the counter to do his business while Van and Millerna wandered around the store. The rays of light that shone into the store through the gaps in the blinds shone and reflected off of many glass cabinets and cupboards that lined that walls and shelves. And within the glass containers were weapons of all different shapes and sizes for all types of combat, from cross bows to swords and whips to daggers. 

"Hey, look at this!" Millerna cried out joyfully, gazing excitedly at something on the shelf, Van walked over and stood next to her then looked in the direction she was pointing. "That's the Crescent Wish" she informed him, "it's the second upgrade for my weapon, look at the gold moon and star on the end of the staffs," she said, marveling at it, "and the strong metal chain, as soon as I can get two inferno fangs I'm going to have my nunchaku's upgraded to this level." She exclaimed excitedly. Van observed the weapon for a while but his attention was soon stolen as something near by caught his eye, he walked over to it and his eyes widened in awe. It was the Lion Heart, the highest upgrade of his weapon. His eyes roamed over its hilt, taking in the trigger, the elegant silver metal wing shape that was grafted to a sleek black leather handle, and the powerful, glowing blue blade, cut to perfect precision. 

"Wow, that's nice." Millerna commented as she stood next to him and looked at the gunblade. 

"How cool are these?" Dilandau said, as he walked over to them, they both turned around to face him and watched as he pulled on the gloves, clenching his fist to test the feel of them.

"Very nice," said Millerna in approval, "but what exactly do they do?" she asked.

"They help me to fight better of course." Dilandau said, throwing a few practice punches in the air.

"A pair of gloves helps you fight better?" She asked incredulously.

"Hey, these aren't just gloves! They're Gauntlets, see the black leather helps to protect my hands and support my wrists while the metal plates on top make sure I deliver a hard punch that'll knock the enemy out."

"Oh right, silly me." she said in exasperation.

"We better get going," Van interjected, "We haven't got long now till sundown, it'll be another fifteen minutes till we reach Garden. The other two agreed and they left the shop, following the pretty streets of the town till they came to its main entrance, from there they followed a path through the open country. Millerna talked quite a bit about various things from weapons to other countries Garden's and she explained what life at Trabia Garden was like. Dilandau would often contribute his own part to the conversation but Van remained silent and just listened. Soon enough, they came to Balamb Garden's front gate, just as the first faint stars were starting to appear in the sky. When they reached the steps, Dilandau stopped and stretched, reaching his arms high above his head. 

"Huuuwahaah!" he yawned, "Finally made it back..."

"Yeah, that was tough." said Millerna as she checked her clothes, brushing off any dirt that was on them.

"Well, I guess all we have to do now is wait till tomorrow for the results," said Dilandau, "till then I'm going to rest up. See you guys later." he said, and waved as he walked off.

"Yeah see you later Van." Millerna echoed as she too left. With everyone going their separate ways, Van walked up the stairs and down the long walkway to Garden's entrance. He went through the barriers and into the Garden's main hall where he noticed Merle, Celena and Headmaster Cid conversing by the directory. He had hoped to go straight to his dormitory but the headmaster spotted him and waved him over, not wanting to ignore the headmasters' request he walked over to the small group.

"Mission complete!" exclaimed Celena. "I think we did a pretty good job. The candidates are all back safely, right!?" she asked, seeking assurance. Merle placed her hand on her hip and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Yes, everyone's back fine and the mission was a great success. Although we didn't realize the G-Army was after the abandoned communication tower."

"We've just received word from the Dollet Dukedom. The Galbadian Army has agreed to withdraw as long as the communication tower is repaired and the uplink remains operational." said Cid.

Merle put her hand to her chin in thought, "What on Earth could they want with the communication tower? Why is it so important to them that it remains active?" 

"Who knows," replied Celena, "in any case, Galbadia is gone and Dollet is safe. Although we could have made more money if they had stayed and caused more aggravation."

"How did it feel out there on the battle field?" Cid asked, finally addressing Van. Van thought for a moment, reliving the battle in his mind.

"To actually fight for real......it was a good feeling." he replied honestly.

"That's the spirit, but don't let it get to your head!" Cid warned.

"I heard you did pretty well out there." Celena remarked.

"Of course! He's my best student.," said Merle proudly placing her hands back on her hips, "He's not very sociable though."

Van didn't like the way the discussion was going, he hated it when people talked about him, be it in a good or bad way. Noticing Van's agitated look she quickly changed the subject.

"The results for the exam should be announced around midday tomorrow, listen out for the announcement." She informed him. Van nodded and walked off around the marble walkway, but he didn't get far when he bumped into Allen.

"I suppose you heard about the communication tower in Dollet?" he said, "I guess it's a good thing I decided to take us there. We would have been heroes if it wasn't for that withdraw order"

Van didn't reply, instead, a feminine voice from behind him did, Merle had heard Allen's words from the directory and didn't like them.

"Allen, you were only looking for a fight." she exclaimed with annoyance.

__

"He's acting as if he done such a good job figuring out the enemies plans, but really it was sheer fluke that he saw the soldiers going up there and only followed to satisfy his desire for a battle." she thought to herself.

"My dear instructor," he replied calmly, "I'm hurt, those are rather cruel words for you to say to an aspiring student. A mediocre student like you will never understand."

Celena who had also heard Allen's words stood next to a fuming Merle.

"Allen, don't be so stuck up yourself!" she snapped, "You are going to take full responsibility for disobeying the order and leaving your designated area."

"Isn't it the captain's duty to take the best possible action?" he tested.

"Allen, you'll never be a SeeD! Calling yourself a captain is a joke." and she stormed off, infuriated with Allen's attitude, with Merle following shortly after.

Headmaster Cid had witnessed the heated exchange of words and took this opportunity to add his own.

"Allen. You will be disciplined for your irresponsible behavior. You must follow orders exactly during combat……But I'm not completely with out sympathy for you. I don't want you all to become mindless machines. I want you to be able to think and act for yourselves....but when it is appropriate. I am..." but his words were cut short as a faculty member walked up to them.

"Headmaster Cid, you have some business in your office." it informed him. Cid sighed wearily.

"There are so many issues at hand here." and he followed the faculty member to the lift. Van took this opportunity to continue his journey to his dorm, and to his relief, he didn't run into anybody else.

***

After a good night's rest Van woke up to bright sunshine beaming through the gaps in his drapes. After getting up and getting ready he headed to the training centre where he spent the morning fighting monsters and practicing battle techniques. Around midday, just as Merle had said, an announcement was made, instructing that "All students who participated in yesterday's field exam, report to the second floor hallway." Obeying the announcer's command, Van sheathed his gunblade and left the training area, using the lift he made his way to the second floor. There were already a dozen students waiting, some standing around while others leaned against walls, all were filled with anticipation, impatience and dread. Among them he spotted Dilandau, who was pacing up and down the hall with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his gaze fixed on the floor. He looked up when he noticed Van arrive.

"Oh hey, they said they're going to call out names one at a time." he informed Van in an unusually quiet tone. Van just nodded in reply and Dilandau went back to pacing. After a few minutes of waiting a faculty member appeared, in his hand he was carrying a rolled up piece of paper. He unrolled it and held it up, calling out the names on it, two of which were Van and Dilandau's. Dilandau jumped and threw a punch in the air with joy.

"Yeessss!" he exclaimed and he strutted off down the corridor, with Van following behind. They got in the elevator and climbed to the third floor where headmaster Cid's office was. When they left the elevator they came out to a large reception room, it was decorated lavishly with a desk in the corner and a red carpet that lead from the elevator to the large wooden doors of Cid's office. When they entered his office it was even grander than the reception. The wall opposite the doors was made completely out of glass, and the large room had a high ceiling, allowing lots of bright sunshine to light it up. The walls on the right and left were lined with tables and book shelves that were made of polished wood. And from the ceiling hung large, ivory coloured pieces of material, almost looking like he had the sails of a ship strung up.

Van and Dilandau joined the four other students that were in a presentational line, all standing up straight and proper. Van took a quick look down the line and noticed that Millerna was there, as well as a guy he remembered seeing in squad C. Then he turned his head to face forwards. Cid sat in his chair in the middle of the room like a king on his throne. From the side of the room a faculty member approached him.

"These are the few students that passed today's exam." it informed him. He stood up from his chair and smiled at them warmly. 

"First of all congratulations are in order, you have all passed the SeeD exam, and are now officially members of SeeD. However....from now on, as a member of SeeD, you will be dispatched all over the world. We are proud to have you as a part of SeeD, Balamb Garden mercenary soldiers, SeeD soldiers combat specialists. BUT....there is much more to being a SeeD. When the time comes-"

"-Headmaster..." the faculty member cut in again, "It's almost time for the meeting." it then turned to face the students, "SeeD is a valuable asset to Garden, its reputation is solely dependent on each of you. Handle your missions with care." It spoke the words monotonously. "Is that what you wanted to say sir?" The faculty member asked, turning back to the headmaster, Cid nodded and the faculty member handed him a few papers.

"Here are your SeeD rank reports." he said handing them each their own report, "well done everybody." He finished.

"This ends the SeeD inauguration," said the faculty member, "dismissed." Everyone then broke away from the line and left the office. Dilandau spoke to Van when they were back in the second floor corridor.

"Hey Van! Let's get back to class." he said.

"Why?" asked Van.

"What do you mean why? Don't you remember what the new SeeD members do? They give a speech in front of the entire class!" he said. Van's face dropped and Dilandau couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, I'm only joking, but there is going to be that cool inauguration party tonight!" he said excitedly as he entered the classroom. Van followed with the rest of the new Seeds behind him and when they entered they were met with Allen and a group of students behind him who were all looking at them. Van watched Allen uneasily. Then Allen did something very unexpected, he started to clap, and soon everyone else was following suit to create a small applause. Van just stood in shock while Dilandau scratched the back of his head, grinning from ear to ear.

***

After the class had ended he went straight to his dormitory where Millerna was waiting for him. "There you are," she said, standing up from the chair she had been sitting on.

"How did you get in here?" he asked her.

"Oh, Jayce let me in, he said I could wait in here for you."

"Who's Jayce?"

"Who's Jayce?!" She repeated with incredulity, "you mean to tell me you don't even know the name of your room mate?" Van just shook his head impassively and she sighed, "well I suppose that should be expected of you." 

Van shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and asked, "So what are you doing here?"

"I came to get you for the party, it starts soon and we don't want to be late." She answered, "it's going to be such fun!" Then she gave a little twirl, "So what do you think?" she asked him, "it's my new SeeD uniform," she said, straightening her jacket proudly. Van just looked at her.

"You should get changed too," she added, "I'll wait out here for you" and she sat back down on the chair as Van walked into his room. There was only half an hour to go till the party started, normally Van would avoid such events but as a new member of SeeD it was compulsory for him to go, so very begrudgingly he got cleaned up and changed into his new SeeD uniform. When he came out of his bedroom into the sitting room of his dormitory Millerna stood back up.

"Heeey! Looking good!" she said, complimenting him on his smart appearance, then she threw an excited punch in the air, "let's hit that PAAH-TAY!" she cried and dragged Van out the door.

***

Half an hour later, Van was leaning against one of the grand marble walls of the hall. So far the night had been as he had expected, extremely dull and boring. A few girls had approached him, asking for a dance but he had refused. A waitress in a blue waistcoat walked past him and offered him a glass of champagne from her tray. He took one and drank a sip of it. Then he heard a loud familiar voice.

"Hey Van, how's it going?" Dilandau asked as he approached the solitary student. He placed a hand on his hip and casually rested his weight on his right leg, crossing the left one over so that his foot was propped up on its toe. "I guess we're both SeeD's now huh?" and he stuck out his hand, "put it there man!" he said, but Van just ignored the gesture and took another sip from his glass. Dilandau retracted his hand and hung his head in exasperation, with a slight smirk across his face. "even as a SeeD you're still the same. Well that's typical of you. See you later Van." and he walked off again. Van then heard another familiar voice.

"Oh.....hey, Dilly! Want to join the Garden Festival committee-"

"Dilly?!" he repeated incredulously, "my name is Dilandau!"

"I know, but Dilly is so much cuter," she replied sweetly. "So anyway, we need someone who can-"

"Sorry. I...ahh...Just remembered something! G-Got to go. Seeya!" he said and hastily walked away. Millerna slumped her shoulders and pouted, then she looked around and noticed Van in the corner.

"Van! Hi!" she said, cheering up instantly, she walked up to him and held her hands up in a begging position. "Do you want to join the Garden Festival committee?" she asked with pleading amethyst eyes, "You can help out whenever you have the time," she added, "please?" and she tilted her head to the side angelically. But Van just sighed and took another sip from his glass. Realising she wasn't going to get anywhere she left him and moved on to her next poor victim.

***

Looking up into the night sky through the glass domed roof of the hall, Van could see the large moon shining brightly with a mysterious aura around it, and all around it little stars displayed their own little glows, twinkling happily. And he watched as the blue light of a shooting star streaked its way across the sky. Taking his eyes away from the view he looked back to the dance floor, and narrowed his eyes as something, rather, some_one_ caught his attention. There, in the middle of the dance floor, also staring peacefully up at the night sky was a beautiful young girl. She had honey coloured hair streaked with blond that hung just past her shoulders, shorter around her face and was wearing an elegant and very flattering ivory coloured halter neck style dress that came to the middle of her thighs. Sensing that she was being watched she turned her head to Van and that's when he saw her dazzling emerald eyes, bright and sparkling with happiness and tranquillity as she smiled at him gently. He found himself unable to take his gaze away from this girl, she was unlike anyone else he had ever met, she enchanted and captivated him, drawing him in. With confidence in her steps she walked up to him., her ivory shoes tapping on the marble floor with every step. 

"You're the best looking guy here" she said when she reached him. Then she put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side playfully, "dance with me?" she asked. Finally managing to break away he brought up his usual barriers and turned his head away, taking another sip from his glass.

"Let me guess," she said, "you'll only dance with someone you like," then with an inspirational expression on her face she said, "Ok then. Look into my eyes," and she leaned forward so that her face was close to his, staring into his deep brown eyes. Van had no where else to look but into her sparkling emerald orbs and once again found himself captivated by them. "You're going to like me…." She chanted in a hypnotizing voice, "you're going to like me…" then she straightened up, "did it work?" she asked brightly.

Despite himself, Van couldn't help but let a small smile creep into his face and shook his head in amusement.

"…I can't dance." He replied simply.

"You'll be fine." She reassured unabatedly. Taking his excuse for a yes she continued, "come on. I'm looking for someone, I can't be on the dance floor alone." And with that she dragged him by his arm and pulled him onto the dance floor, giving him barely any time to put his glass on the tray of a passing waitress. 

With long confident strides she pulled him through the dancing couples to an empty spot in the middle of the hall. She twirled around and pulled him near her, grabbed his arms, arranging them so that one arm was around her waist and the other was holding her hand and then she started to move in steps to the music. Van tried to follow the steps, keeping his eyes on his feet, which he kept tripping over, and yet was still completely lost. But despite his ineptitude and obvious lack of knowledge of the routine, she kept moving swiftly to the sound of big bass drums and violins that were playing together to create a cheerful and upbeat tune, dragging him with her. 

After much dizzy twirling and many clumsy paces along with a few trips and stumbles, Van started to get tired of the humiliation he was facing by making a fool of himself on the dance floor. He dropped his arms from her waist and started to walk away, but she wasn't going to let him get away that easily. She quickly slid an arm forward and grabbed his hand, swiftly pulling him back to her, and repeated the earlier steps, determined to get a good dance out of him. 

As they both focused intently on trying to coordinate themselves and get the moves right they didn't notice where they were going and they bumped into another dancing couple who turned and gave Van and the girl dour and angry glares. Van looked at them apologetically but the girl simply scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out. Turning back to Van she smiled knowingly as a new tune struck up that Van recognized. Then as if they were mirror images of each other they began the steps to the routine. 

With their hands joined in front of them they took steps forward and back, first to the left and then to the right of each other. On the third step they stepped right around each other, with the girl doing a small twirl so that they switched sides and then repeated the move. Now facing each other they took long, sliding glides to their right with their arms out stretched, they repeated this move so that their back were facing each other and again till they were standing side by side, each move was graceful and fluid. 

Then, with their arms still outstretched they connected hands and she twirled in close to his body with his spare palm pressed against her back, supporting her movements. She twirled back out so that their arms were outstretched again, and as the music gradually came to an end the beat slowly died down. Slowing their pace with the music she stepped towards him, so that their bodies were close with their palms pressed together, signaling the end of their dance. 

Everything around them faded away as they looked in each other's eyes, losing themselves in each other's presence and Van suddenly became aware of how close they were. He could feel her warm breath tickling his neck and noticed how well her slim body moulded against his, but his thoughts were distracted when fireworks were blasted into the night sky, creating a dazzling display with showers of sparkling colour and loud bangs and whooshes. 

The girl watched Van contentedly as he gazed into the night sky, taking in all his features. The way his thick raven bangs hung over one eye, and his tanned complexion, setting off the depth and intensity in his brown eyes and at this close proximity she could clearly smell the scent of a field or meadow coming from him. His presence soothed and relaxed her and she enjoyed being in his arms. Then something over his shoulder caught her eye and her eyes lit up. Van turned back to face her and noticed that her gaze was directed behind him. She smiled at him brightly before breaking away from his hold and he watched as the mysterious girl left the dance floor. Van just stood there, quite overwhelmed and shocked at what just happened. 

__

"who was that girl?" he thought to himself. 

Ok this chapter was **very **hard to write, I don't know if anyone's ever written a dance scene before, but it isn't easy! So let me know how I got on with that and anything else in the chapter or the whole story.. Thanks everyone for reading.

Natalie xXx


	7. The First Mission

Esca Fantasy

jj: I'm glad you like it, here's the next chapter for you, thanks for reviewing.

Love Witch: I'm glad you liked the dance scene. I thought fighting scenes were difficult to write but they are easy compared to that. And you're right, Dryden is going to be Irvine. I chose that pairing purely because of their hair :p That was nice of your friend, all that ff8 jewellery sounds very cool. I'm glad you didn't mind me using your brother's name. And I hope your brother doesn't mind either. I was trying to think of a name for the room mate that was different, but cool aswell and Jayce came into my mind. I'm glad you liked the extra scenes aswell. And it is hard trying to keep the right personalities for the characters. I chapter 5 I started to realise that Millerna was too hyper like Selphie and Merle was too mature and proper like Quistis, so I'm trying harder to keep them right now. Thanx for reviewing.

Snow blossoms: I'm glad you liked it so much. ^_^ And I'm always more than happy to hear what you guys have to say and will always take into consideration any suggestion you have. And I'm afraid you'll have to wait to see what caught her eye. But in the mean time, here's the next chappie, enjoy!

Shiane: I'm glad you liked this chapter so much. I think my favourite chapter is actually the first. I personally think that the quality of writing in it is much better than the others I've done. Thanks for reviewing. 

Esca-lover: Thanks, and I'm glad the dance scene was as clear as other scenes like the fighting ones, even though as I said, it was extremely difficult. Oh, and update your story soon!

Little fairy: the last item you need is six remedy pluses. To get these you must have 10 remedy's, then you refine them using Alexander's Med LV up technique. I hope that helps you.

Ruby: thanks for the review and here's the next chapter for you.

SabineballZ: I'm sorry for stopping it there, but I just couldn't resist. Here's the next chappie for you, enjoy!

Previously, on Esca Fantasy

After a few minutes of lying there he opened his eyes, only to see a girl slightly older than himself, watching him from the other side of the glass wall. She had dark brown hair that was twisted up and was held in place with invisible pins, and light brown eyes. She wore a simple white skirt and blue top with a grass green sash wrapped around her arms. She smiled at him as she spoke softly.

"Van…..so we meet again". Van blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, but when he looked back, he saw that she had disappeared, gone as quickly as she had come.

~*~*~*~

After a few minutes of waiting a faculty member appeared, in his hand he was carrying a rolled up piece of paper. He unrolled it and held it up, calling out the names on it, two of which were Van and Dilandau's.

~*~*~*~

They got in the elevator and climbed to the third floor where headmaster Cid's office was. When they entered his office they joined the four other students that were in a presentational line. Van took a quick look down the line and noticed that Millerna was there.

Cid stood up from his chair and smiled at them warmly. "First of all congratulations are in order, you have all passed the SeeD exam, and are now officially members of SeeD."

~*~*~*~

Taking his eyes away from the view of the night sky he looked back to the dance floor, and narrowed his eyes as something, rather, some_one_ caught his attention. There, in the middle of the dance floor, also staring peacefully up at the night sky was a beautiful young girl.

~*~*~*~

With long confident strides she pulled him through the dancing couples to an empty spot in the middle of the hall. Turning to Van she smiled knowingly as a new tune struck up that Van recognized. Then as if they were mirror images of each other they began the steps to the routine. 

~*~*~*~

Slowing their pace with the music she stepped towards him, so that their bodies were close with their palms pressed together, signaling the end of their dance. Then something over his shoulder caught her eye and her eyes lit up. Van turned back to face her and noticed that her gaze was directed behind him. She smiled at him brightly before breaking away from his hold and he watched as the mysterious girl left the dance floor. Van just stood there, quite overwhelmed and shocked at what just happened. 

Chapter 7

The First Mission

Later that evening, Van was standing out on the large stone balcony that was connected to the hall. Ivy wrapped itself around the grey stone balusters and soft blue lights illuminated the area while music from the hall quietly drifted out through the open glass doors. But his surroundings went unnoticed by him as his thoughts were focused on that mysterious green-eyed girl. 

Who was she? 

He certainly didn't recognise her from Garden and she couldn't be a new student as she was too old and only SeeD's were allowed to attend the party last night. And she couldn't be a new transfer SeeD like Millerna as she wasn't wearing the SeeD uniform. He could only guess that she was a guest to the celebrations, probably invited by one of the other SeeD's.

He still couldn't quite comprehend what had happened earlier. He had never allowed anyone to get that close to him before. But that girl was different, it was as if he lost all control of himself when she was near. He couldn't explain it. Ever since he could remember he had been alone, not getting close to anyone and relying on himself completely. So why did he allow her to take him onto the dance floor? If he really hadn't wanted to dance with her then he wouldn't have, but for some reason, he did want to.

He didn't even know her name, she had disappeared so quickly and he couldn't find her again. Guessing that she must have left, Van decided to come out onto the balcony for the rest of the evening. But he still couldn't get her out of his mind. He wondered if they would ever meet again.

"You really are an excellent student. Even that dance was perfect." Van had been so lost in his thoughts that he had failed to hear the approaching footsteps. He glanced over his shoulder at Merle who was wearing her usual pink out fit, with her arms crossed over her chest and leaning her weight casually on one leg. After confirming it was her he then turned back to face the view. 

"Thank you." Was his simple, yet appropriate reply to her compliment.

After a few moments of silence he sighed, "Yes?" 

Merle unfolded her arms indignantly. "So you'll dance with someone you don't even know. But you can't stand being around me?" As much as she tried to hide it she could still hear a hint of jealousy and hurt in her voice.

"…Whatever." Van turned around to face her, putting a hand on his hip and leaning against the balcony. "You're an instructor and I'm your student. It's kind of awkward when you stand there and don't say anything."

Merle put a hand on her hip and chuckled slightly.

"That's true. I was like that when I was a student…..Oh! I completely forgot," she said as she folded her arms again, "I've come to give you an order." She announced, "You and I are to go to the 'secret area'. It's where students secretly meet up and talk after curfew. It's inside the training centre."

Van had heard about the 'secret area', although he had never been there as he never had reason to, and never particularly wanted to either

"What do we need to go there for?" he asked, "Are we going there to tell everyone that they're violating curfew? If that's the case forget it. Leave that for the disciplinary committee." 

Merle chuckled at his attitude, she'd never heard him disagree with an order before.

"No, it's nothing like that. Just go and get changed and meet me at the training centre's entrance…..This will be my last order."

Van was going to ask her what she meant by that but he decided not to as he had a feeling she'd tell him soon enough. So following her order he left the balcony and exited the hall, heading for his dormitory where he ran into Dilandau in the hallway.

"Finally! There you are!" he said, placing a hand on his hip, "Where the hell were you? I was looking all over the place." Van just gave Dilandau a questioning look.

"What did you want me for?" he asked.

"We're both members of SeeD now, right?" Van just nodded, "Well guess what!? We got our own rooms now! Your new one is right across the hall from your old one, and all your stuff has been moved already, you just need to sort it out. Anyway, that's what I was asked to tell you, it took me forever!" 

They both walked up the corridor to the dorms where they went their separate ways and Van entered his new room. It was bigger than his last one, with his bed on the left and a desk and shelves on the right and a bathroom and a kitchenette adjoining it. Pushing a few boxes to the side he moved to his cupboards where he pulled out his usual black jacket and trousers and changed into them. He also strapped his gunblade around his waist, seeing as they were going to the training centre he might need it. He then left his room and made his way to the training centre, where Merle was waiting for him.

"Well I'm glad to see you're here," she said when he arrived, "I was beginning to think you weren't coming. Come on it's this way." She said and she started walking into the training centre, with Van following. She led him through a few doors, pathways and thick forestation before they eventually came to a door that was concealed behind a large rock and hidden by creeping plants and vines. When they entered the 'secret area' Van looked around. It was a fairly dark area, just a plain room that led out to a balcony, which was where Merle was headed. Van couldn't help but notice as he followed her that the only other people there were couples that were cuddled up to each other. When they got to the balcony Merle walked over to the metal railing.

"I haven't been here in a while." She said, as she leant forward, resting her forearms on the railing. Van turned to face the view of Garden and rested one elbow on the railing, his other hand placed on his hip. Garden looked so big from here. He could see the outside of the main hall from where he stood; brightly lit with elegant blue lights, with only trees covering the distance. Both of them stood there for a while, lost in their own thoughts.

"What time is it?" Merle asked after a few moments silence, keeping her gaze on the view. 

Van gave her a side-ways glance before answering. "It's after midnight."

Merle sighed heavily and leant forward on her arms, resting her chin on them and looking down.

"Oh well…." Then she stood up straight from her slouched position, "I, Merle Trepe, am no longer an instructor as of now!" She announced, then she turned to Van, letting one arm fall to her side, "I'm a member of SeeD now, just like you. Who knows, maybe we'll end up working together." Van looked at her, his expression blank, then turned back to the view.

"…Oh really?" Merle also looked back out at the view.

"Is that all you're going to say?"

"If that's how it was decided then you have to abide by it." He replied nonchalantly. Merle leant forward on the balcony sadly.

"They told me that I failed as an instructor. Basically, that I lacked leadership qualities. I was a SeeD by the age of fifteen, got my instructor's license at seventeen…..It's only been a year since I got it…I wonder where I went wrong…I did me best…" then she turned to Van but realised that he had turned his back on her and was looking away, seemingly not paying any attention to her.

"Are you listening?" she asked hotly. 

Van sighed heavily.

"Are you done yet?…." he asked, Merle didn't know what to say to that. There she was, telling him her thoughts and feelings and he didn't even care. He leant back on the railing and propped his elbows up on it, "If you're expecting me to be able to give you some advice or comforting words then don't. What am I supposed to say about other people's problems?"

"I'm not asking you to say anything. I just want you to listen." She replied.

"Then go talk to a wall." He said dryly.

"Aren't there times when you want to share your feelings with someone?" she asked. Van folded his arms and looked away.

"Everyone has to take care of themselves. I don't want to carry anyone's burden." And with that he pushed himself off the railing and walked away.

Merle sighed and looked up at the night sky. 

"No leadership qualities…. failed instructor….maybe they're right…"

***

Van left the secret area and walked through the training centre towards the entrance. He heard Merle catch up to him but she didn't say anything. She just followed his lead. Suddenly, after a few minutes of walking in silence they heard something. Both paused in their steps as they strained to hear it again, and identify what it was. It didn't take them long. From near by they could clearly hear the desperate cries of someone.

"Somebody help!"

Merle was the first one to come to her senses and ran past Van.

"Come on, Van!" she called to him over her shoulder. They followed a narrow dirt path that led through the training centre and as they came round a corner that's when Van saw her.

It was the girl from the infirmary.

A large, bug-like monster that was flying over head was attacking her. She shrieked, as it made another dive towards her and that's when she saw them.

"Van!! Van! Merle!" she called out to them desperately.

Van didn't have any time to ponder about what that girl was doing here or even how she knew their names as the monster was getting ready to launch it's next attack. Van unsheathed his gunblade and ran over to stand in front of the girl. Merle did the same as she uncoiled her chain whip from her side.

The monster, a Granaldo it was called, swooped down towards them. It's wings buzzing behind it, sounding like a swarm of bees. Van raised his gunblade, ready to strike it as it passed, but the Granaldo was too fast, and didn't fly low enough, so his attack missed.

Granaldo's were monsters that weren't found very often in the training centre. They mainly came out at night, so Van had only ever fought on or two of them. And whenever he did it was always a pretty tough battle because of their aerial advantage. The only way he had beaten them before was by using powerful wind magic, but that was a long time ago and he hadn't used wind magic in a long while. This Granaldo was also larger than any others he had ever fought. 

Van braced himself again as the monster made a turn in the air and flew back down towards them. It was Merle's turn to attack this time. When the monster was close enough she flicked out her chain whip and managed to crack it against the Granaldo's body. Her attack inflicted a small amount of pain but no damage to the flying insect. Seeing this, Van managed to devise a plan in his mind.

"Merle," he said, "next time the Granaldo flies round, use your chain whip and trap it. Then we can pull it in so I can attack it." Merle thought about his plan and agreed that it was the best solution.

"Ok." She replied, and she turned to face the Granaldo. She kept her eyes locked on it as it made a loop through the air and once again advanced towards them. Holding her chain whip at the ready, she stood perfectly poised, her body on full alert as she waited for the right moment to attack.

As the monster neared she mentally prepared herself and when she saw her opening she swung her chain whip out, successfully looping it around one of the monsters pointy, leg-like limbs. She hung on tight to her chain whip as the monster carried on flying, and stumbled forwards. She may have caught it but it was still stronger than she was and she couldn't hold it. Seeing this, Van rushed forwards and held onto the chain whip with her. With their combined strength they managed to slowly pull the creature down. Although they now had the creature detained, Van wouldn't be able to attack it if he had to hold the chain whip, and Merle couldn't hold it on her own.

As they struggled with the monster, in the corner of his eye, Van could see two figures in white uniforms approaching. They crouched next to the girl who had fallen to the floor as a result of her knees giving way.

"It's not safe here. Please, let's go." One of the figures said.

"Alright." She replied shakily and let them help her to her feet then guide her out of the training centre. Van didn't have a chance to say anything to them as the monster was thrashing wildly at them, trying in vain to break free.

After much struggling with the monster they managed to drag it to a near by tree trunk and tied their end of the make shift snare around it. Once they had done this they were able to let go of it and hastily moved away from the monster which was still fighting to get away, more furious than ever. Van reassessed the situation.

He didn't see any need to kill the creature. His only objective in the fight was to protect the girl, but she was now gone. He also didn't fancy having to get too close to it because of its aggressive state. So instead of attacking it with his gunblade like originally planned, he cast a sleep spell on it. As the spell took effect, the monster stopped it's thrashing against it's bonds and as drowsiness came over it, it's wings slowly stopped working and it drifted to the ground. Landing in a mess of spiky limbs and translucent wings. 

With the fight now over Van sheathed his Gunblade and helped Merle detach her chain whip. He untied the loop around the creature's leg while she removed it from the tree trunk. 

"Who was that?" she asked, jerking her head in the direction of the place the girl had been as she coiled her weapon up at her side.

Van didn't reply, as he didn't have any idea better than she did. But somehow that girl had known who they were, even though he was sure they had never met before. Then he remembered her words from the infirmary.

~*~*~*~

"Van…..so we meet again".

~*~*~*~

What did she mean by that? Did that mean he did know her? But how? And why couldn't he remember? He decided that there was no point in pondering over it anymore. She was gone now, it didn't matter.

"Van, it's not like everyone can get by on their own you know, and this was a perfect example." And with that said, Merle walked off.

"….Say's who?" he whispered to her disappearing form.

***

Van had decided to go straight back to his dormitory after that incident and get some sleep as it was already really late and the past few days had been pretty hectic. The next morning he was woken up earlier than he had expected, to a loud banging at his door and a feminine voice shouting from the other side.

"Van! Van! Hey, are you awake?" The voice called out. He recognized the voice as Millerna's.

"Yeah." He replied, with his voice rough and scratchy from sleeping.

"We've got our first SeeD mission today! Looks like we're going to Timber." She informed him, her voice slightly muffled by the door. "We've got to meet by the front gate as soon as possible, hurry!" and he heard her footsteps slowly disappear as she ran off down the corridor.

Van pushed himself out of bed and set about getting ready. He pulled on his usual outfit and grabbed a small bite to eat before heading out of his room down to the front gate with his gunblade strapped faithfully to his side. Van walked down the steps from the main hall and through the barriers where an old man, who's job was to keep track of who came in and out of Garden and to help visitors was sitting in his little side office. The old man said a cheery 'good morning' to Van as he walked past, to which Van replied with a small nod and carried on walking down the large and long path to the front gate. When he got there, Millerna, headmaster Cid and a faculty member were all waiting silently. Millerna had changed out of her uniform and now wore a yellow denim dress with dungaree style straps and brown boots that came half way up her shins. A red arm band adorned her left wrist and strapped to her back were her red nunchakus.

"Ahh good morning Van," Cid greeted him warmly, "excited about your first mission?"

"…I suppose." Was all Van could think to say.

"We're just waiting for one more person." Cid informed him.

"He's got one more minute…." The faculty member announced. Obviously possessing less patience than the others. Suddenly from near by they heard a quiet humming sound. They all turned in the direction of the noise and saw Dilandau approaching, riding on a hoverboard. When he reached them he hopped neatly off the board.

"Made it!" he said triumphantly, as he flicked up his hoverboard with his foot like a skater would his skateboard and grinned at them.

The hoverboard was a large blue and red metal board; roughly the size and shape of a surfboard except it could hover a few feet in the air and was extremely fast and maneuverable. They were mainly used as entertainment and fun for kids and young people, but could also be used as a type of simple transportation.

"Hoverboards are prohibited within Garden, or have you forgotten?" The faculty member rebuked.

"Yeah, sorry." Dilandau replied, "But this is really cool. It may come in handy on a SeeD mission, someday."

"We'll be the judges of that." The faculty member replied, and took the board off of him, "This item will be confiscated, you may come and reclaim it from me when you return to Garden." 

Dilandau glared at the faculty member but didn't say anything, just crossed his arms in a huff.

"All of you are members of SeeD, but…nevertheless, you are still students at this Garden." Said the faculty member. "Furthermore, because you are now SeeD's you must set an example to all others and abide by the Garden's rules. Understood!?" All three students nodded in reply, Cid took this opportunity to step forward.

"Well about your first mission," he began, "You are to go to Timber. There you will be supporting a resistance faction. That is your mission. A member of the faction will contact you upon your arrival at Timber." He informed them, the faculty member then took over.

"This person will talk to you and say, 'The forests of Timber sure have changed'. At this time you must reply, 'But the owls are still around'. That is the password." All three students listened intently to their superior's words, storing the information in their minds.

"All you have to do is follow the faction's orders." The faculty member added. Dilandau looked around, slightly confused.

"Just the three of us?" he asked.

"Correct," replied the faculty member, "we have agreed to do this mission for very little money. Normally we would never accept such requests, but…"

"Enough talk about that," Cid cut in, waving his hand as if to wipe away the conversation. He then clasped his hands behind his back and turned to Van, a bright smile across his face, making his blue eyes twinkle. 

"Well then Van, you are the squad leader. Use your best judgment based on the situation. Millerna and Dilandau," he said, tilting his head towards the other two, "you are to support Van and give your all to carry out the faction's plans." Both Millerna and Dilandau nodded in reply, showing their understanding. "Oh and Van, I forgot to give you this." He said and from behind his back he bought out what appeared to be a small black lamp. (A/N: Genie style lamp) 

"It's a cursed item, but if one with enough power uses it, it should be of great help." He informedthe raven haired student. Van took the item and pocketed it, giving a nod of thanks to the headmaster. Cid then straightened up. 

"Best of luck on your first mission. Make us proud." He said, and with that the three new SeeD members walked out of Garden.

It was still very early when they left. The sun had only been up for about a half an hour, slowly warming the chilly air. The cold, dewy grass crunched under foot as they walked and bird song could be heard all around them. They followed the same path as before to get to Balamb town and it was extremely quiet there, as most of the people weren't up yet. Millerna, who was never one for long silences, had once again talked for most of their journey. Chattering about the mission and wondering what they would be asked to do. And once again it was Dilandau who responded to most of what she said, while Van remained silent most of the way.

When they reached the station they spoke to a warden who, after they had paid 3000 Gil, gave them their train tickets and informed them that, 'The train to Timber will be arriving shortly'. When it did, they climbed up the steps into it. They were one of the last few on so they didn't have to wait long for it to start moving.

The train cabin that they had entered into was fairly small, made out of a bluish metal with silver metal designs on the wall. Millerna was standing by the window, looking out at the scenery and Dilandau stood in the centre of the room, with his hands on his hips. Van was in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed and gazing out at the passing trees and fields.

"This train is amazing." Said Millerna in awe.

"It's on a transcontinental railroad. It even runs through an underwater tunnel to get to Timber." Said Dilandau to Millerna, he then turned to Van, "Pretty cool don't you think?"

"Sure is…" Van replied nonchalantly.

Dilanda flopped in exasperation and shook his head.

"Guess you're not interested," said Dilandau, more to himself than to Van. Van just ignored Dilandau's mumbling and continued gazing out the window.

"By the way Van, you have to use the ticket to open the door to the cabin." Said Dilandau.

Van pushed himself away from the doorframe and strode over to a small computer system in the wall that looked sort of like a cash point. He placed the ticket in the slot and pressed a few buttons, the door to the right of him then slid open, revealing a small corridor. Millerna walked over to investigate the new area.

"I'm going to go have a look out the front." She said as she disappeared inside.

"Let's go take a look Van." Said Dilandau eagerly. Van just gestured for Dilandau to go in first and then followed him. They walked a little way down a narrow corridor with blue carpet and a window running right along the side where Millerna was again watching the view. When they reached a small door to their left Dilandau was the first to walk in and stopped in the doorway.

"Whoa, take a look at this," he exclaimed excitedly and stepped right in, Van following behind. "So this is the SeeD's private cabin," he said and they looked around the interior. It was quite lavishly decorated, wooden walls with gold trim, red carpet and a few green plants along a shelf, with soft lights in the ceiling. Dilandau sat down on a white couch that ran along once side of the room and started bouncing up and down on it, with a gleeful smile across his face he looked like a little kid.

"I'm glad you're so excited." Said Van, slightly amused at Dilandau's childish antics. He obviously had more sides to him than just the 'cool' image that he portrayed to everyone.

"This is pretty damn amazing!" Dilandau exclaimed, sitting forward and resting his forearms on his thighs, "It pays to be a member of SeeD!…. Hey Van, do you know anything about Timber?"

"Not too much." Van replied as he sat down on the couch.

"Thought so," Dilandau said simply, "Well then let me fill you in," and he leant back on the couch, stretching his arms along the back of it casually, "Timber used to be a country surrounded by deep forests. But eighteen years ago Galbadia invaded. Timber fell quite easily to Galbadia. So now Timber is under Galbadia occupation. It's said there are a bunch of resistance factions big and small that operate within Timber, trying to liberate it."

"….And?" said Van.

"Nope, that's it."

"………..Well thank you Mr know-it-all-Dilandau."

"Hey, no problem." Dilandau replied casually, waving his hand in the air.

Then they both looked towards the door as it slid open and Millerna entered, looking slightly queezy.

"I'm not….feeling well…." She said groggily, holding her head and wobbling slightly on the spot.

Van stood up, slightly concerned.

"You should get some rest if you're tired." He advised, indicating towards some bunk beds in the corner. Ignoring his offer of the bed, Millerna walked slowly towards the couch, her eyes half-lidded.

"Hey…huh?" Dilandau cried and he jumped up from his seat, as she nearly fell on him.

"I'm really sleepy…" she whispered as she fell onto the couch and curled up.

"You ok?" Van asked. He had never seen someone come down with an illness this quick before, he wasn't too sure what was wrong.

"What the!?" exclaimed Dilandau, "Something's wrong with me too, I, feel….sleepy." And he fell back onto the couch.

"What's going on?" said Van, full of confusion and perplexity. Suddenly he felt it too. A sharp pain shot through his head accompanied by a high pitched sound. "Urgh….What is this?" he asked in anguish and held his throbbing head as he fell to his knees. Blackness consumed his vision and he fell forwards onto the floor, completely unconscious.

Thanks for reading! Natalie xXx 


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